2023-11-01 17:42:33
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria has expelled a Russian journalist whom it accuses of participating in activities that threaten national security, authorities said Wednesday.
Bulgaria’s National Security Agency reported that Alexander Gatsak, a correspondent for the Russian state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, was stripped of his resident status and banned from entering Bulgaria and other European Union countries.
Gatsak, the agency added, was summoned on September 29 to the immigration department of the Ministry of the Interior, but did not appear and instead took refuge inside the Russian embassy in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.
In a statement, the agency indicated that it requested assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that the journalist left Bulgaria on Wednesday. The agency did not give details regarding the activities in which Gatsak had participated, but emphasized that his expulsion was decided in strict compliance with European norms and values.
“The agency’s actions seek to protect national security and not limit freedom of expression or opinion,” the statement said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry threatened retaliation, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported. Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called the measure “another illegal action by NATO once morest Russian journalists,” according to the office.
Last year, Bulgaria expelled 70 members of the Russian diplomatic corps, straining relations between the two countries, which were close allies in the communist era. It was the largest number of Russian diplomats ever expelled by Bulgaria.
Bulgaria, a member of NATO and the EU, has backed Western sanctions once morest Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
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