SOFIA, March 20 (Reuters) - Bulgaria will not support imposing large scale economic sanctions on Russia before the European Union carries out a impact assessment on such measures, Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski said in a statement on Thursday.
EU member Bulgaria, which meets about 90 percent of its energy needs with imports from Russia, will be among the countries that will adversely affected if such sanctions be imposed, the government press service quoted Oresharski as saying to reporters ahead of an European Council meeting in Brussels.
"I underline that we would not back large-scale economic sanctions before any assessment of the impact, because our estimates show that we will be among the countries that will be most seriously hit," he said.
"I am a pessimist on the possibility that large-scale sanctions will be imposed," he said.
Oresharski added that the Balkan country would back a possible expansion of the list of people who will be banned from travelling in the 28-member bloc and others whose assets be frozen, but said that an extreme widening of that list may "hamper dialogue with Russia".
(Editing by Alison Williams)
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