site.btaUPDATED Bulgarian National Radio Sees Expulsion of its Moscow Correspondent as Entirely Political Act Detrimental to Freedom of Access to Information

"The Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) management categorically states that throughout his posting as a correspondent in Moscow in the course of more than six years, our colleague Angel Grigorov has strictly adhered to international professional and ethical journalist standards," the public media service said in a position circulated on Friday. 

"The expulsion from Russia of the only correspondent of a Bulgarian media outlet is an entirely political act and is detrimental to the freedom of access to information," the position reads. "The BNR is disappointed at the attempt to use the accreditation of our Moscow correspondent as a tool of pressure and a bargaining chip by the Russia side."

Earlier in the day, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Grigorov was ordered to hand over his accreditation and leave Russia as a "reflective measure" that Moscow "was forced to take" after the expulsion from Bulgaria of Aleksandr Gatsak, the correspondent for the state-owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

The Foreign Ministry said that "guided by the principles of media freedom and pragmatic cooperation, the Russian side is ready to consider the option of the BNR correspondent resuming his work in Moscow if the Bulgarian Government, for its part, takes a positive decision regarding the accreditation of the Rossiyskaya Gazeta journalist in Sofia." It was not clear whether the reference was to Gatsak or to the accreditation of another correspondent.

It transpired on November 1 that State Agency for National Security (SANS) Chair Plamen Tonchev had issued an order withdrawing the right of residence of Aleksandr Gatsak, expelling him from the country and barring him from entering and staying in the territory of EU Member States. The coercive administrative measures were imposed on the Russian national "in connection with activities posing a threat to Bulgaria's national security," the Agency said.

Gatsak left Bulgaria on the same day, SANS specified.

Later on Friday, BNR aired an interview with Grigorov, who said that he received a call from his "curator" - a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Information and Press Department. The correspondent must hand his accreditation over personally at the Russian Foreign Ministry building on November 7. The deadline for his departure is not yet clear, Grigorov said, presuming that he will be told the date on Tuesday. The curator also told him that, effective November 3, his accreditation is considered cancelled and he does not have the right to perform the functions of a BNR correspondent.

Grigorov told BNR that he was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, when the Press Centre Head Maxim Burlyay told him that he was not yet stripped of his accreditation but work was underway on the reflective measures which the Russian official was unable to specify. The official decision was published on the Ministry's website on Friday, the journalist explained.