Sergei Lavrov on the expulsion of Russian diplomats: Russia will respond accordingly

Russia will respond to Bulgaria for the expelled diplomats in the same way, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on July 4.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry's assessment, the embassy cannot operate normally at the moment, he stressed.

"After this completely illegal expulsion, according to the foreign ministry, the embassy is no longer able to work normally at this time. Naturally, we will respond to our Bulgarian counterparts in a similar manner," Lavrov said.

The 70 diplomats and staff of the Russian embassy, declared persona non grata by the Bulgarian government, flew to Moscow yesterday, July 3. Together with their families, a total of 180 people left the country.

Bulgaria did not accept the ultimatum of the Russian ambassador Mitrofanova

Russian Ambassador told BNT: Russia considers severing diplomatic relations with Bulgaria (update)