MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Two employees of the Bulgarian embassy in Moscow have been declared personae non grata in response to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Bulgaria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

"On April 20, Bulgarian Ambassador Atanas Krastin was invited to the Russian Foreign Ministry where he received a ministry’s note declaring first secretary of the embassy’ consular service N. Panayotov and first secretary of the embassy’s trade and economic service Ch. Kristozov personae non grata. These men must leave Russia within 72 hours," it said.

"This measure was taken in response to Bulgaria’s unmotivated March 2021 decision to declare two employees of the Russian embassy in Sofia personae non grata," the ministry added.

On March 23, Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry declared two employees of the Russian embassy in Sofia personae non grata who were to leave the country within 72 hours. The Russian embassy said back then that it considered "the Bulgarian side’s decision ungrounded."

The Bulgarian prosecutor’s office said on March 19 that six active and former employees of the country’s Defense Ministry and military intelligence agencies had been detained on suspicion of spying for Russia. Five of them were place in custody by a military tribunal and one was released on bail as prosecutors did not insist on his arrest.