INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia on Friday threatened to close its embassy in Bulgaria and shut down the EU country's mission in Moscow as tensions rage over Moscow's
offensive in Ukraine and espionage concerns.This week Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said his country would expel 70 Russian
diplomatic staff, the biggest number ordered out from the Balkan nation.Russia's ambassador to Bulgaria, Eleonora Mitrofanova, said on
Friday she would petition the Russian government to shut down the mission in Sofia."Unfortunately, our appeal to the Bulgarian foreign
ministry has been ignored," she said in a statement released by the embassy.She said she "immediately" planned to ask the Russian leadership
to close "the Russian Embassy in Bulgaria, which will inevitably lead to the closure of the Bulgarian diplomatic mission in Moscow."Russia's
Foreign Ministry will examine Mitrofanova's suggestion and "if necessary" bring it up to President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.Petkov said on Tuesday that the Russians told to leave had "worked against our
should not give ultimatums to the Bulgarian state..
What I have said clearly is that diplomatic relations should continue," he told reporters.On Thursday, Mitrofanova told Bulgaria's public
threat" to sever diplomatic ties, calling it "a disproportionate step" that "would only serve to further isolate it (Russia)
"strongly condemn Russia's long-standing pattern of coercive behavior, attempts to interfere in our democratic processes and institutions
and to target the security of our citizens."Bulgaria already expelled 10 Russian diplomats in March over Moscow's offensive in Ukraine.The
technical assistant expelled.
