MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/: Russia declared two staff members of Bulgaria’s Embassy in Moscow personae non gratae, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
"On October 12, Bulgarian Ambassador Atanas Krystin was invited to the Russian Foreign Ministry where he was given the ministry’s note on declaring two staff members of the Bulgarian Embassy in Moscow personae non gratae," the ministry said.
This step is "a retaliatory tit-for-tat measure," according to the ministry.
The Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office accused two employees from the Russian trade mission of espionage. The authorities insisted that the two had been engaged in alleged spying activities in Bulgaria since 2016, supposedly collecting data on plans to upgrade the Bulgarian army and maintain the technical readiness of military hardware. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry declared the two personae non gratae. They left the country on September 25.
The Russian Embassy in Bulgaria castigated the expulsion as baseless, emphasizing that no evidence had been furnished to confirm any sort of activity incompatible with their status.
