Russia says it will respond in kind to Bulgaria after diplomatic expulsions
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow would respond in kind to Bulgaria’s expulsion of 70 Russian diplomats, a day after two Russian airplanes departed Sofia with scores of Russian diplomatic staff and their families.
Russia’s ambassador to Bulgaria, an EU and NATO member state and once a close ally of Russia, said last week she would ask Moscow to close its embassy in Sofia over the expulsions.
On Sunday, two Russian airplanes departed Bulgaria with scores of Russian diplomatic staff and their families amid a mass expulsion that has sent tensions soaring between the historically close nations, a Russian diplomat said.
Filip Voskresenski, a high-ranking Russian diplomat, told journalists at the airport in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia before the flights left that he was among the 70 Russian diplomatic staff declared “persona non grata” last week and ordered to leave the country by the end of Sunday. [Reuters, AP]
