OREANDA-NEWS. As TASS reported on December 18, the Bulgarian leadership declared a Russian diplomat persona non grata, against whom the prosecutor's office had previously opened a case on charges of espionage. This information was confirmed by the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Bulgaria Anatoly Makarov.

According to Anatoly Makarov, the corresponding note from the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry on declaring the embassy employee persona non grata was handed over to the Russian side without additional comments. Russian diplomats were told that the said embassy official must leave the country within 72 hours. According to Makarov, this situation looks absurd. He added that the Russian side reserves the right to retaliate.

The reason for such an unpleasant decision for the Russian side was the loud statement of the Bulgarian side about the designated diplomatic person. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry announced that the Bulgarian prosecutor's office declared the Russian diplomat to be espionage, after which he was declared persona non grata.

In response, the Russian Embassy in Bulgaria called the expulsion of the Russian diplomat from the country groundless. The Russian embassy stressed that Russia reserves the right to retaliate in connection with the expulsion of the diplomat from Bulgaria.