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Bulgarian Foreign Ministry declares two Russian diplomats as personae non gratae

The Russian embassy said that Bulgaria’s decision was "groundless"

Russian embassy in Bulgaria Igor Lenkin/TASS

Russian embassy in Bulgaria

© Igor Lenkin/TASS

SOFIA, March 22. /TASS/. Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry has declared two Russian embassy staffers as personae non gratae, the Russian embassy has said.

"The minister-counsellor was summoned to the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry to be handed a note declaring embassy staffers as personae non gratae," the embassy said. Both were told to leave Bulgaria within 72 hours.

The Russian embassy said that Bulgaria’s decision was "groundless."

"The Russian side reserves to right to retaliate," the embassy said.

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov mentioned the intention to declare the Russian diplomats as personae non gratae on Saturday.

On Friday, the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office said the Bulgarian authorities acting with support from the EU and US detained six current and former staffers of the Defense Ministry and military intelligence on the suspicion of spying for Russia. On Monday, a district military court sustained the investigators’ request for remanding five of them in custody. Another suspect was released on bail, because the prosecutor’s office did not insist on his arrest.

The Russian embassy in Bulgaria demanded that all speculations on the case be paused until the court’s verdict. The embassy expressed the certainty that the "court proceedings will be conducted on a depoliticized, impartial and objective basis in strict accordance with Bulgarian and international legislation.".

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