Bulgaria to expel 70 Russian diplomats who worked against the interests of the country

Bulgaria will expel 70 Russian diplomats, who worked against Bulgaria’s interests, outgoing Prime Minister Kiril Petkov told journalists in the evening on June 28.

"Our services have identified them as people largely linked to their services and have worked against the interests of our country. I want to congratulate the Bulgarian services and the Foreign Ministry for having done their job. I would like to tell all foreign countries, not just Russia, that anyone who works against Bulgaria's interests will be expelled back to the country they came from," Petkov said.

The outgoing Prime Minister did not give any details about the activities the diplomats were involved in, because the information is confidential.

They all were from the Russian embassy, Petkov said. "I can say that a large part of them have worked for foreign intelligence services and their diplomatic role was just a cover," Petkov added. They have had various official posts at the Russian Embassy and were involved in activities inconsistent with their diplomatic positions.

This is in now way aggression against the Russian people – It's just that when foreign governments are trying to interfere in Bulgaria's internal affairs, we have institutions designated to counter this type of activities. On Sunday, we expect a full airplane, of 70 seats, to fly back to Moscow," Petkov said.

He also said a coalition council would be held tonight between the leaders of the ruling parties.

Later, the Foreign Ministry confirmed that a note had been handed to the Russian ambassador to the country, Eleonora Mitrofanova for reduction of the staff of Russian representations in the country

Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova was informed about the Bulgarian side's decision to reduce the number of staff of the Russian representations in the Republic of Bulgaria to numbers not exceeding the number of Bulgarian representations in the Russian Federation. The number should be kept up to 23 diplomatic and 25 administrative and technical staff, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said.

There are two reasons for Bulgaria's demand – the reciprocity, based on Art. 11 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

The staffing of missions abroad should be kept within reasonable and normal limits, given the current state of bilateral relations. Secondly, because of the activities of Russian officials, which have been defined by the competent Bulgarian authorities as incompatible with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the purpose of which is the development of friendly relations between states. An activity deemed by the relevant institutions as a national security threat, based on which they are declared undesired, the Foreign Ministry said.

The verbal notice to Ambassador Mitrofanova further states the Bulgarian side's expectations that Russia will temporarily close its Consulate General in the city of Rousse, while Bulgaria will temporarily close its Consulate in Yekaterinburg.

Ambassador Mitrofanova was presented with a list of the 70 names of the Russian Embassy's staff, who must leave thebn territory of this country by midnight on July 3, 2022.