June 29, 202212:30 AM GMT+7
A
view of the Russian embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, April 29, 2021. REUTERS/Stoyan
Nenov
SOFIA, June 28 (Reuters) - Bulgaria said on
Tuesday it was expelling 70 Russian diplomatic staff over espionage concerns
and had set a cap on the size of Moscow's representation as tensions between
two countries that were once close allies fractured over Ukraine.
The move, announced by the foreign ministry
and outgoing prime minister, was the largest expulsion of Russian diplomats by
Sofia in recent years and more than halves the size of Moscow's diplomatic
footprint in the Balkan country.
An unnamed source told Russia's TASS news
agency that Moscow, which in April cut off gas to Bulgaria over its refusal to
agree to a rouble payment mechanism despite its heavy dependence, would
respond.
"Today we have expelled 70 Russian
diplomats... Many of them have worked directly for (intelligence) services and
their diplomatic role has been more like a cover," said Bulgarian Prime
Minister Kiril Petkov, who last week lost a parliamentary no-confidence vote.
The decision more than halves Russia's
diplomatic presence, which Petkov had said numbered 114 at the end of April.
Bulgaria's foreign ministry said the decision
to expel so many Russian diplomatic staff was designed to bring down the size
of Moscow's mission down to that of the Bulgarian representation in Moscow and
a response to what it called activities incompatible with the Vienna Convention
on Diplomatic Relations, official jargon for spying.
There was no immediate Russian response to
the spying allegations.
Petkov has taken an unusually strong stance
against Russia for a country that enjoyed close ties with Moscow during the
communist era and has long been a draw for Russian tourists.
He sacked his defence minister in February
for refusing to call what Russia describes as "a special military
operation" against Ukraine a "war".
Petkov has also backed EU sanctions against
Moscow, agreed to repair Ukrainian military hardware while stopping short of
directly sending arms to Kyiv, and has complained of what he has previously
called the disproportionate size of Russia's diplomatic presence in his
country.
"This is not an act of aggression
towards the Russian people," said Petkov, describing the expulsions.
"When foreign governments are trying to meddle in our internal affairs, we
have institutions that will respond."
The foreign ministry said Bulgaria was
capping the size of Russia's diplomatic presence at 48 and had ordered the
expelled Russian diplomats to leave the country by midnight on Sunday.
"On Sunday, we expect a full airplane,
with 70 seats, to take off to Moscow," said Petkov.
The foreign ministry said Bulgaria was also
temporarily closing down its diplomatic mission in the Russian city of
Ekaterinburg and expected Russia to temporarily halt the activities of its own
mission in the Bulgarian city of Ruse.
Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova Editing by Andrew Osborn
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