Russia expels Bulgarian diplomat in retaliation

Moscow, May 27 (IANS) The Russian Foreign Ministry said it has decided to expel a Bulgarian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move.In a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry said it had summoned the Bulgarian Ambassador Atanas Krystin to inform him that an employee from the Bulgarian Embassy in Moscow has been declared "persona non grata", reports Xinhua news agency."The move comes in response to the baseless decision to declare a Russian diplomat persona non grata that Bulgaria made in April," TASS News Agency quoted the Ministry statement as further saying.On April 29, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of a Russian diplomat. The Bulgarian authorities had said earlier that prosecutors suspected six Russians of being involved in several explosions between 2011 and 2020 at Bulgarian arms depots.
--IANS ksk/