Persona Non Grata

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Ivica Dacic said on Thursday evening a Croatian diplomat in Belgrade had been declared a persona non grata over gross violation of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations and engagement in affairs that were not the job of a diplomat, and noted that Zagreb had failed to do anything about the case despite warnings and evidence of his actions.

In the past year 2022, Bulgaria declared 84 employees of the Russian official representations in our country as persona non grata. This was said in an interview with BTA by the chairman of the National Security Agency, Plamen Tonchev.

For comparison, in 2021, three employees of the Russian representative offices were declared persona non grata.

Russia has declared diplomats from the Bulgarian embassy in Moscow undesirable, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Later, the news was confirmed by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry.

The measure is in response to the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats from Bulgaria in March.

The note for the expulsion was handed to our ambassador in Russia Atanas Krastin.

Russia has declared two employees of the Bulgarian embassy in Moscow persona non grata as a retaliatory measure. This was stated in a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry today, quoted by TASS.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov answered a journalistic question about the actions of the Bulgarian state towards the Russian Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova.

He explained specifically why she has not been declared a persona non grata so far:

The government in the Republic of North Macedonia has declared five Russian diplomats persona non grata. This was confirmed by Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani.

First Secretary of the Russian Embassy in Bulgaria has been declared Persona Non Grata

Russia has declared a Bulgarian embassy official persona non grata, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. 

The Russian diplomat declared persona non grata by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry will leave the country by May 5, Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova told TASS on Thursday.

"On the occasion of declaring the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Montenegro, Vladimir Boovi, a persona non grata, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia acted in a reciprocal manner," the ministry said in a statement.

A Russian spy expelled from Bulgaria has tried to recruit a director of a Bulgarian service with access to classified information, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said in an interview with BTV. According to PM Borissov, the Bulgarian employee himself informed him of the attempt for recruitment, after which appropriate actions were taken by Bulgarian authorities, BNR reported