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Russian diplomat declared persona non grata leaves Bulgaria

The head of the Russian Defense Ministry mission to the Russian embassy in Sofia has become the sixth Russian diplomat expelled from the country in the last two years

© REUTERS/Mike Segar

SOFIA, December 21. /TASS/. The military, air and naval attache to the Russian embassy in Bulgaria has left the country after he was declared persona non grata on Friday due to accusations of espionage, the Russian diplomatic mission in Sofia told TASS.

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Bulgaria declares Russian diplomat persona non grata

"The Russian diplomat has left Bulgarian territory through the border with Turkey on Monday at around midday," TASS was told.

The Bulgarian authorities have labeled the head of the Russian Defense Ministry mission to the Russian embassy in Sofia as persona non grata on Friday. He was instructed to leave the country within 72 hours. He has become the sixth Russian diplomat expelled from the country in the last two years. He is claimed to have been engaged in spying in the country since 2017. The accusations allege that he was gathering intelligence about the US military participation in drills in Bulgaria.

The Russian embassy stressed that no evidence was presented to back up these claims. Moscow said that it can come up with a similar response.

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