A tourist boat floats on the Moskva river in front of the Kremlin in downtown Moscow on Dec 9, 2019. (DIMITAR DILKOFF / AFP)
MOSCOW – The Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it is expelling two diplomats of the Bulgarian embassy in Moscow in tit-for-tat retaliation.
The ministry summoned Bulgarian Ambassador Atanas Krastin and gave him a note declaring the first secretary of the embassy's consular service and the first secretary of the embassy's trade and economic service "personae non gratae," it said in a statement.
Russia has recently engaged in diplomatic clashes with the United States and some European countries as Moscow is under greater pressure from the West
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The two diplomats must leave Russia within 72 hours in a response to the expulsion of two staffers of the Russian Embassy in Sofia in March, it added.
Russia has recently engaged in diplomatic clashes with the United States and some European countries as Moscow is under greater pressure from the West.
Russia and the United States mutually expelled 10 diplomats last week, with Moscow having banned eight incumbent and former American high-ranking officials from entering Russia indefinitely.
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On Sunday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it was expelling 20 staffers of the Czech Embassy in Moscow in response to the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats from the Czech Republic.
In addition, Russia and Ukraine have mutually expelled one diplomat.
