Bulgaria Expels Russian Diplomat For Spying Amid Ukraine Crisis
NDTV
Bulgaria already expelled ten Russian diplomats on March 18 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Bulgaria's foreign ministry said Friday that it would expel another Russian diplomat on suspicion of spying, just two weeks after the Balkan country declared ten Russian diplomats 'persona non grata'.
"The foreign ministry handed a note declaring the diplomatic official 'persona non grata', giving him a 72-hour deadline to leave the country," the ministry said in a statement.
The move followed an alert by the Bulgarian prosecution that the diplomat -- a first secretary at Russia's embassy in Sofia -- was "involved in unregulated intelligence activity" by collecting "information of national importance," the prosecution said in a statement earlier Friday.
Specialised prosecutors announced that two mid-level officers at Bulgaria's counter intelligence State Agency for National Security (SANS) and a third ministerial official were being investigated for suspected spying for Russia, without giving further details.
