Bulgaria has blocked a bank transfer worth some $890,000 to the Russian embassy because of EU sanctions, Finance Minister Assen Vassilev said on Wednesday, several days after Sofia expelled 70 Russian diplomatic staff from the Balkan country.
“There is a bank transfer to the Russian embassy which falls directly under the European Commission sanctions. There are no frozen bank accounts,” Vassilev told reporters.
Vassilev said the Russian embassy had sought a derogation because the funds were needed to pay staff salaries. He said the Bulgarian government was currently holding talks with Brussels on whether to waive the sanctions to allow the transfer.
The Russian embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, on April 29, 2021. Stoyan Nenov/Reuters
Bulgaria, an EU and NATO member state and once a close ally of Russia, has been roiled by diplomatic tensions after outgoing Prime Minister Kiril Petkov announced on June 28 the expulsion of 70 Russian diplomatic staff on espionage concerns.
Moscow has said it would retaliate in kind, while the Russian ambassador to Sofia has said she would ask the Russian government to close the embassy.
The EU and other Western countries have slapped sweeping economic sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Two planes transported 70 Russian diplomatic staff and their families from Bulgaria on Sunday after the government earlier ordered them to leave.Diplomatic Expulsions
A Russian government airplane carrying diplomats expelled by the Bulgarian government took off from Sofia to Moscow on Sunday ahead of a deadline for them to leave the country.Outgoing Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said the diplomats were working against Bulgaria’s interests after the expulsions were announced.
Russia has accused Petkov of acting against Moscow on the orders of unnamed foreign forces, something he has denied.
The move, which followed a sharp deterioration in ties over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was the largest-ever expulsion of Russian diplomats by Sofia.
