site.btaRussia Declares Bulgarian Diplomat Persona Non Grata

December 5 (BTA) - The Russian Foreign Ministry Thursday served a note to Bulgarian Ambassador in Moscow Atanas Krastin, which declared a diplomat at the Bulgarian Embassy persona non grata quoting the reciprocity principle. The Bulgarian diplomat's rank is equivalent to that of the Russian diplomat who was declared non grata by Sofia in late October.

The Bulgarian diplomat will leave Russia within 24 hours as specified in the note.

On October 25, Bulgarian Foreign Ministry officials met with Russian Ambassador Anatoly Makarov to discuss the case of a first secretary at the Russian Embassy in Sofia, who was implicated in espionage. The Bulgarian prosecution service said that, according to an alert from the State Agency for National Security confirmed by the Specialized Prosecution Office, since September 2018 the Russian, identified as Andrey Egorov, had been holding regular clandestine rendezvous with Bulgarian citizens, including a high-ranking official with access to classified information of Bulgaria, the EU and NATO. The purpose of the contacts had been to obtain intelligence information constituting a state secret in exchange for material gains for the informants.


MPs comment on Russia's move

Politicians in Parliament said Moscow made a standard reciprocal move by declaring a Bulgarian diplomat non grata.

Toma Bikov (GERB) learned from Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva that Ambassador Atanas Krastin's meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry was held in an atmosphere of goodwill. The MP believes that Bulgarian-Russian relations remain unchanged and the joint projects are still valid. Moscow's move is unrelated to Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement on Wednesday that Bulgaria is deliberately stalling the building of the TurkStream natural gas pipeline on its territory, said Bikov. He recalled that Russia had declared a German diplomat non grata but the Nord Stream gas pipeline project was unaffected.

Parliament's Deputy Chairperson Valeri Simeonov, leader of the National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria, is sceptical that things might escalate into a major diplomatic scandal. While he sees a possible connection with Putin's statement a day earlier, Simeonov believes that economic matters should not be directly linked to espionage which was proved beyond doubt. "Bulgarian-Russian relations should be, first and foremost, economic," he said. Bulgaria should keep in mind its own interests about TurkStream and the possible construction of the Belene Nuclear Power Plant. He recommended "a more serious attitude towards the future economic projects".

The Bulgarian Socialist Party declined comment.

Mustafa Karadayi, Chairperson of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, also declined to commit himself on the matter, saying that his party would comment when they were better informed. DT/DD


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