Russian Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova comments on the expulsion of 70 Russian diplomats from Bulgaria
Today, June 29, we decided to make an emergency briefing on the subject of expulsion of Embassy staff. I would like to clarify some things. Yesterday, on 28 June, at 5 p.m., I was summoned to the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where I was handed notes verbale, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova wrote on Facebook, adding:
"One of the notes demands that the number of diplomatic staff be reduced to 23 and technical staff to 25. This note also says that in connection with this, the Republic of Bulgaria is closing its Consulate General in Yekaterinburg, and the Russian Federation is expected to close its Consulate General in Rousse.
The second note verbale contains a list of 34 diplomats who work here in Bulgaria and they have been declared 'persona non grata'.
In the third note, anotehr 36 people are declared 'persona non grata'. These are my cook, drivers, Embassy security, accountants, all the technical services of the Embassy.
There is much to be said for the fact that all these actions do not at all comply with the letter and spirit of the Vienna Convention. As an experienced diplomat, I want to assure you that they do not correspond in any way. In order for a person to be declared persona non grata, evidence of his illegal activities must be provided. Or if a diplomat is involved in some criminal activity, and criminal proceedings are initiated against them, it is their diplomatic status that protects them in such situations in a foreign country. In such a case, such person is declared persona non grata.
Simply declaring persona non grata in a list is unprecedented and something new in diplomatic practice. Of course, it is not entirely new, because it has been done, as far as I know, in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Now the 'game without rules' is being played. Acting in such a way should not refer to the Vienna Convention, which does not provide for such actions. Of course, this is at the very least an unprecedented unfriendly step which, unfortunately, damages the long-standing diplomatic relations, the long-standing friendship between our countries. I specifically use the word 'countries' because I know how the Bulgarian people feel about Russia, I know about the deep roots that bind us, which, try as we might, are impossible to destroy.
I would even like to remind you of the fact that during the Great Patriotic War (or World War II) the Embassy of the Soviet Union was fully operational here in Bulgaria, just as the Bulgarian Embassy in the Soviet Union was fully operational. No one expelled cooks and no one expelled Ministers plenipotentiary.
Moreover, I would like to point out that the people who have been declared persona non grata are Balkanists who know Bulgaria, who speak the Bulgarian language very well, as, for example, the Minister Plenipotentiary of the Embassy, Filip Voskresensky, and the Consul General in Varna, Vladimir Klimanov (many people living in Varna and not only know him very well), who has devoted over 30 years of his diplomatic service to Bulgaria. It is therefore a great pity that people of such high class, who treated Bulgaria with such warmth, who tried and continue to try to do their best to develop our bilateral relations, have been expelled.
The Government of the Russian Federation reserves the right to a reciprocal, possibly asymmetrical response to such extremely unfriendly actions. It is very unfortunate that the Government of Bulgaria is trying so hard to scold us and the Bulgarian people. I think it will not succeed," Mitrofanova added.
PM Kiril Petkov rejected accusations that the decision to expel 70 Russian diplomats was his alone
