Bulgaria expels Russian military attache, Russia reserves right to retaliate - embassy
MOSCOW. Dec 18 (Interfax) - Russia reserves the right to retaliate against Bulgaria's decision to expel a Russian diplomat, the Russian embassy in Sofia said on Friday.
"On December 18, the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Bulgaria declared the military, air force, and naval attache at the Russian embassy to Bulgaria persona non grata," the embassy said in a statement on Facebook.
"The groundless expulsion of the chief of the Russian Defense Ministry's mission is not conducive to dialogue between our countries in the military field, nor does it help improve stability in the Black Sea region. Russia reserves the right to take retaliatory measure," it said.
Earlier reports citing Bulgarian online news service Novinite said the diplomat is suspected of spying.
Bulgarian prosecutors have determined that the diplomat had been collecting intelligence on U.S. military personnel involved in exercises in Bulgaria since 2017. The investigation suspects the Russian of offering money to a Bulgarian citizen in exchange for such information, to which the citizen had access.
Bulgarian Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev provided information and evidence related to the case to the Foreign Ministry.
The Foreign Ministry said on its website that it had declared the Russian diplomat persona non grata and given him 72 hours to leave the country.
This current spy scandal is not the first in relations between Moscow and Sofia in 2020. In September, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry declared two officials from the Russian embassy, whom Sofia accused of spying, personae non gratae.
According to Bulgarian media outlets, local prosecutors identified two Russian diplomats engaged in spying at the end of January. The Bulgarian judicial authorities said both Russians enjoyed diplomatic immunity and therefore could not be indicted.