LAST UPDATE: 15:25
The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry announced today that it had declared 10 Russian diplomats “personae non gratae” and given them 72 hours to leave the Balkan country due to what it claimed were actions that were deemed inconsistent with their diplomatic status.
In a statement on its website, the Foreign Ministry said that the issue of deportations had been discussed with Prime Minister Kirill Petkov and that the Russian ambassador to Sofia had been informed.
It is the second wave of deportations of Russian diplomats from Bulgaria. On March 2, Sofia deported two Russian diplomats amid allegations of espionage.
Bulgaria, Moscow’s closest ally during the Cold War and now a member of the European Union and NATO that has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, had deported eight other Russian diplomats on suspicion of espionage in October 2019.
The Russian embassy in Sofia said today that Bulgaria’s decision to deport 10 Russian diplomats was “another aggressive step” to which Moscow would respond accordingly.
In a statement to its Telegram channel, the embassy said it considered the deportations a sign of Bulgaria’s intention to keep Bulgaria-Russia relations to a minimum.
“This hostile move will soon receive a relevant assessment and response, adequate to the new spirit of bilateral relations,” the embassy said.
SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
Source: Capital
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