SANS issued an expulsion order against a Russian journalist for intelligence activities in the country

The chairman of the State Agency for National Security (SANS) has issued an order to revoke the residence status, accreditation to work as a journalist and to expell and ban Russian citizen Alexander Gatsak from entering the territory of the European Union, BNT has learned.

The order was based on sufficient evidence that under the guise of a journalist, Gatsak had carried out intelligence activities in the country.

Gatsak was summoned to the Migration Directorate of the Ministry of Interior on 29 September to be served with the order and later to the SANS. He failed to appear and SANS asked the Foreign Ministry to assist in serving the order through the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Sofia.

Alexander Gatsak is a correspondent for Rossiyskaya Gazeta in the country. Yesterday, the newspaper published information on the case, which shows that Gatsak was informed about the actions of the Bulgarian authorities by the Russian Embassy in Sofia and has since been on the territory of the embassy.

The case provoked sharp comment from the Russian Foreign Ministry. On Telegram, the spokeswoman of the ministry, Maria Zakharova, wrote that Russia would take retaliatory measures to the actions of the Bulgarian authorities.