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Bulgaria Gives Russian Diplomat Suspected Of Espionage 24 Hours To Leave

By RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service October 29, 2019

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has given a Russian diplomat accused of espionage 24 hours to leave the country after learning that its request to Moscow to recall him by October 28 had not been fulfilled.

The ministry initially announced that one of the nine first secretaries at the Russian embassy in Sofia had left the country on October 28.

The Russian embassy in Sofia confirmed receiving the written note for its diplomat to leave and said the person will comply with the deadline.

Neither the foreign ministry, prosecutor's office nor the Russian embassy have revealed the name of the suspected spy.
Pre-trial proceedings into the Russian diplomat were suspended on October 28 on grounds that the suspect being protected by diplomatic immunity.

The Russian diplomat allegedly had held conspiratorial meetings with high-ranking Bulgarian officials, including one with access to classified information about Bulgaria, NATO, and European Union affairs. The diplomat intended to hand the information to a foreign country, the prosecutor's office said.

Bulgaria became a full member of NATO in March 2004 and joined the European Union in 2007.

A rare move by Bulgaria, this is the first publicly known case of a Russian diplomat being expelled from the country since 2001, local news site Mediapool reported.

Last year Sofia didn't not join its NATO and EU allies in expelling Russian diplomats over a chemical attack on a former Russian spy in England.

Bulgaria in September charged Nikolai Malinov, a former member of parliament from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) who now heads a pro-Russian nongovernmental organization, with spying and laundering money for Russian organizations.

The country has also declared politically-connected Russian businessman Konstanin Malofeyev persona-non-grata amid allegations of spying.

Bulgaria has close cultural and historic ties to Russia, which is the country's biggest energy supplier.

With reporting by Mediapool and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/bulgaria-gives- russian-diplomat-suspected-of-espionage -24-hours-to-leave/30242998.html

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.