Moscow Expels Two Bulgarian Diplomats in Reciprocal Move

Bulgarian Ambassador to Russia Atanas Krastin, who paid a visit to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, received a note about Moscow's response to the expulsion of two Russian diplomats from Sofia, Sputnik reported.

"On 20 April, Ambassador of Bulgaria Atanas Krastin was invited to the Russian Foreign Ministry, where he was handed a note from the ministry declaring the first secretary of the consular service of the Bulgarian embassy in Russia Panayotov and the first secretary of the service for trade and economic issues of the Bulgarian embassy in Russia Khristozov persona non grata. These employees were ordered to leave the territory of Russia within 72 hours," the statement said.

The move came as a response to Bulgaria's "unmotivated decision to declare two staffers of the Russian embassy in Sofia persona non grata," the foreign ministry specified.

On 22 March, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry declared two diplomatic staffers of the Russian Embassy in Sofia persona non grata and gave them 72 hours to leave the country.