Russia expels 10 Bulgarian diplomats
Russia has declared a number of Bulgarian diplomats persona non grata, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said on April 18, without specifying how many.
It said that the Bulgarian ambassador had been summoned to the ministry to be informed of the expulsions.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the move was a response to the Bulgarian government’s “groundless” decision in March to expel 10 Russian diplomats.
Later on April 18, Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry said that 10 Bulgarian diplomats had been given 72 hours to leave Russia.
On April 8, Russia said that it was expelling two Bulgarian diplomats in response to Bulgaria’s expulsion of two Russian diplomats in March. Bulgaria expelled the two, saying that prosecutors had established that they had been spying.
On April 2, Bulgaria expelled the First Secretary of the Russian embassy in Sofia, also saying that he had been committing espionage.
Bulgaria expelled a number of Russian embassy staff in 2019, 2020 and 2021, all in connection with spying.
(Photo of the Russian Foreign Ministry: shakko_1)
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