Bulgaria expels Russian Orthodox Church ambassador due to threat to national security

The Russian Embassy in Bulgaria announced on Thursday that the Bulgarian authorities had decided to expel Archimandrite Vassian, the rector of the courtyard of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia and the de facto representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in the country, due to a threat to national security. Source: European Pravda, citing the embassy on Facebook Details: The Russian diplomatic mission called the expulsion of the Russian Orthodox Church archimandrite "rude and blatant actions" designed to "turn the Russian and Bulgarian peoples against each other".

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"It is obvious that the current leadership of Bulgaria has set itself the task of destroying not only the socio-political and cultural-humanitarian ties between our states but also to break the relationship between the sister Russian and Bulgarian Orthodox churches," the Russian Embassy added.

In a comment to the Russian propaganda agency TASS, Eleonora Mitrofanova, Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria, stated that the Bulgarian authorities recognised Vassian as a threat to national security, and several other priests of the Russian Orthodox Church are being expelled along with him. "They were put in a van and taken to their homes so that they could collect their belongings; then they will be taken to the church and then to the border with Serbia," TASS quoted her as saying.

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The Bulgarian side has not yet officially commented on the situation with the expulsion of Russian priests.

Background: In the spring of 2022, Bulgaria expelled a total of more than a dozen employees of the Russian embassy who were engaged in espionage activities. In general, European states expelled hundreds of such Russian "diplomats" after the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation of Ukraine.

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