Bulgaria's competent authorities have sufficient data to suspect two Russian diplomats of being involved in espionage, otherwise Sofia would not have expelled them, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2020) Bulgaria's competent authorities have sufficient data to suspect two Russian diplomats of being involved in espionage, otherwise Sofia would not have expelled them, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Russian embassy in Sofia said that Bulgaria was expelling two staffers of the Russian trade mission. Bulgarian prosecutors claim that the diplomats were involved in espionage, but no substantiation has been provided. The Russian Foreign Ministry described the scandal as a deliberate attempt to harm bilateral relations and pledged a tit-for-tat response.
"A few years ago, I told Russian President Vladimir Putin that we do not allow such things to happen on Bulgaria's soil," Borissov told reporters at a briefing, broadcast on Facebook.
According to the prime minister, the prosecutor's office takes extremely seriously such cases, and anyone who tries to engage in espionage activities is to be held accountable in accordance with the norms of international relations.
If the State Agency for National Security and the prosecutor's office acted this way, it means that they had enough information, Borissov concluded.
