The work of the mission is minimized: how the Russian Foreign Ministry assessed Bulgaria's steps to expel Russian diplomats

The Bulgarian authorities, having ordered a number of Russian diplomats to leave the country, reduced the work of the Russian embassy in Sofia to zero.

This was announced on July 3 on the air of the Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov program on the Russia 1 channel by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.

“They themselves have simply reduced to a minimum, and perhaps even to zero, not just normal ... but any functioning of the diplomatic mission,” she said.

At the same time, Zakharova noted, among those who were declared persona non grata by the Bulgarian government, the technical staff of the embassy prevailed.

“That is, they expelled, as they said about it, a huge number of precisely technical employees ... The blow was struck on the part that makes it impossible to provide technological, technical support for the work of the diplomatic department,” the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

All this exacerbated the issue of protecting and ensuring the security of the Russian embassy, ​​Zakharova added.

As TASS was told in the Russian diplomatic mission in Sofia on July 3, about 160 Russians were forced to leave the country - employees of the diplomatic corps and members of their families.

• Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova

• © RIA Novosti / Press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry

Relationships to Break

On June 28, the leadership of Bulgaria announced the decision to expel Russian diplomats allegedly for espionage.

“Our services identified them as people who were largely connected with the Russian special services and acted contrary to the interests of our country,” Acting Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said on the air of the Bulgarian National Television, adding that the decision of the Bulgarian government was allegedly not a manifestation of aggression against to the Russian people.

It is noteworthy that Petkov announced the decision to expel the Russians after the Bulgarian parliament voted to pass a vote of no confidence in himself and his government.

Then Petkov blamed not only opposition leaders, but also Russian Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova for what happened.

What was the role of the Russian ambassador in the failure of the policy of the Petkov government, he did not explain, but less than a week later, the now acting Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kiril Petkov (the new government should be formed before July 8) announced the expulsion of representatives of the Russian diplomatic corps from the country.

The leadership of the Russian embassy reacted to the actions of the Bulgarian authorities, calling them "an absolutely unreasonable and provocative act" that undermines the foundation of Russian-Bulgarian relations.

In this regard, on June 30, Russian Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova called on the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry to withdraw notes containing a list of names of employees of Russian foreign missions in Bulgaria.

“Otherwise, the Russian leadership will immediately be asked to close the Russian embassy in Sofia (which automatically means the closure of the Bulgarian embassy in Moscow), and the responsibility for the extremely difficult consequences for bilateral relations will fall entirely on the Bulgarian side,” the ambassador said in a statement. posted on the website of the diplomatic mission.

However, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry rejected Mitrofanova's appeal, and the decision to expel the diplomats remained in force.

• And about.

  Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kiril Petkov

• AP

Meanwhile, Brussels supported the decision of the Bulgarian government, adopted in relation to Russian diplomats, saying that it allegedly fully complies with international law.

At the same time, the EU Foreign Service issued a statement condemning Russia's warning about a possible severance of diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.

“The European Union regrets the unreasonable threat from the Russian Federation to break off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria… The European Union expresses its full support and solidarity with Bulgaria in these circumstances,” follows from a statement published on the agency’s website.

In the interests of security

At the same time, the order of the current leadership of Bulgaria on the expulsion of Russian diplomats did not find wide approval in the country.

Thus, the President of the Republic Rumen Radev, speaking at a press conference in Madrid on June 30, said that in the current situation, it is the Bulgarian government that is responsible.

In his speech, he stressed that the presidential administration had not received any reports from the State National Security Agency on the issue of the expulsion of Russians.

On the same day, Radev, on his Facebook* page, appealed to the government to discuss the Russian-Bulgarian diplomatic problem.

According to him, the authorities must assess the consequences of the escalation of the crisis in bilateral relations "and make a decision ... (which will. -

) meet the requirements of national security and the long-term interests of Bulgaria and thousands of Bulgarian citizens living in Russia."

The people of the country also expressed their dissatisfaction with the actions of the authorities.

On July 1, the media reported that rallies in support of Russian diplomats were held near the Russian embassy and the memorial church to Alexander Nevsky in Sofia.

The participants in the events demanded an end to the confrontation with Russia, cancel the expulsion of representatives of the Russian embassy and called on the country's government to prevent Bulgaria from turning into an anti-Russian zone.

"Loss of historical memory"

RT interviewees note that the current expulsion of Russian diplomats is absolutely unlawful and unfounded, since no evidence of the illegal activities of the diplomatic mission staff has been provided.

“This is an openly unfriendly action, which will negatively affect, first of all, the interests of Bulgaria itself, since the country has fairly close economic ties with the Russian Federation.

In addition, our relations are rooted in the depths of history, and Russia has repeatedly provided Bulgaria with various assistance.

So the well-known steps of Sofia also demonstrate the loss of historical memory, ”senator Konstantin Dolgov emphasized in an interview with RT.

In turn, political scientist Yuri Bondarenko, in a commentary to RT, called the accusations of the Bulgarian government against Russian diplomats "the height of cynicism and stupidity."

“This is an absolutely biased act and it is necessary to respond to it harshly, up to the severance of diplomatic relations.

Russia will not be worse from this, but in Bulgaria they will feel the negative effect immediately, ”the expert said.

Meanwhile, as noted by Konstantin Dolgov, public opinion in this situation was clearly not on the side of the Bulgarian government.

In this regard, he expressed the hope that the position of Sofia in relation to the Russian Federation will change over time, and the authorities of the republic will distance themselves from the openly Russophobic orientation in the country's policy.

“Now politicians are trying to curry favor with Brussels and Washington, they are trying to show that they are worthy followers of their course.

Blinded by slogans dictated from abroad, they absolutely forget about the national interests of the country, endangering their own citizens, ”the senator concluded.

* Meta product, activity recognized as extremist, banned in Russia by decision of the Tverskoy Court of Moscow dated 03/21/2022.