GERB-UDF deputy floor leader Ekaterina Zaharieva expressed hope that the decision to expel Russian diplomats was not the result of panic caused by the political situation in this country. "Personally, I noticed some discrepancies between the Prime Minister's words and the statement released by the Foreign Ministry," Zaharieva added.
Bulgaria announced its decision to expel 70 Russian diplomats on Tuesday evening. The Foreign Ministry said that there аre two reasons. One is the principle of reciprocity, based on Art. 11 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, considering that the Russian Embassy staff outnumbered by far that of the Bulgarian Embassy in Mosow. The other reason is that the competent Bulgarian authorities have deemed the Russian staff's activity incompatible with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Prime Minister Petkov's own announcement of the decision before that mentioned only the second reason.
"If it is true what Prime Minister Petkov said, that it has been established based on intelligence that the expelled diplomats engaged in activities incompatible with their positions, we have to congratulate the Bulgarian [security] services for a job well done," said Zaharieva.
She said that the services should continue working on this "because there are suspicions that some people in the high corridors of power, in the outgoing government, continue to cater to the Russian economic interests and protect the interests of LUKOil.
Asked to specify who they had in mind, GERB's Daniel Mitov said "the people who asked that Bulgaria be excluded from the sixth package of sanctions against Russia and were going to veto it".
/PP/
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