After the announced expulsion of 70 Russian diplomats from Bulgaria, Moscow is considering completely breaking off diplomatic relations. Russia’s request to Bulgaria to revoke the largest ever diplomatic expulsion in the EU country was ignored, criticized Russia’s ambassador in Sofia, Eleonora Mitrofanova, according to the Interfax agency on Friday. That is why the closure of the Russian embassy is now being discussed. That in turn would “inevitably” mean the end for the work of the Bulgarian embassy in Moscow, said Mitrofanova. Bulgaria announced on Tuesday that it would expel 70 Russian diplomats by the end of this week. The majority of the diplomats worked “directly for foreign services,” the statement said. In the past, the former Eastern Bloc state has repeatedly expelled Russian diplomats from the country because of allegations of espionage – there have been a total of 21 since 2019. The EU and NATO country Bulgaria condemns the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Sofia has also refused to pay for Russian gas in rubles. As a result, the Russian energy company Gazprom has already stopped supplying gas to Bulgaria.
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