The gauntlet has been thrown and we must support them, the GERB leader said, but criticized the prime minister for acting amateurishly
Outwardly, he received an instruction from Lena Borislavova and refused to fulfill the ultimatum
On Friday, when Eleonora Mitrofanova reiterated that she was closing the Russian embassy in Sofia after informing the head of state, Bulgarian diplomats sought contacts with Rumen Radev to advise him of an urgent conversation with Vladimir Putin. According to them, only the Bulgarian president and his Russian colleague would find some semi-elegant way to get out of the complicated situation in which Kiril Petkov has put us, without serious losses. Until late yesterday, “24 Chasa” was unable to obtain official confirmation of the plot with a possible telephone conversation between Putin and Radev.
On Friday afternoon, when the ultimatum was due to expire, Mitrofanova was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be told again that the 70 Russians must leave Bulgaria by Sunday, and that she withdraw her note with threats. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explicitly emphasized that this happened in fulfillment of an instruction given by Lena Borislavova as head of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov’s political cabinet.
Immediately after the conversation, Mitrofanova spread the word that
immediately has asked from the government to Russia yes close the embassy in Sofia
Unfortunately, our appeal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was ignored. The responsibility for the further severe consequences of this step lies entirely with the government of Kiril Petkov, the Russian ambassador announced.
The matter will be examined by the Russian Foreign Ministry and, if necessary, reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later added.
Although the name of the Russian president is involved in the diplomatic scandal for the first time, Mitrofanova’s actions were previously agreed with the Kremlin, diplomatic sources explained. It is for this reason that Bulgarian diplomats tried to get President Radev to ask for a conversation with Putin.
“24 Chasa” turned to the administration of the Bulgarian president with the following questions:
1. Did President Rumen Radev have a conversation with his colleague Vladimir Putin after the statement of the Russian ambassador to our country, Eleonora Mitrofanova, and in view of the diplomatic tension between the two countries?
2. If yes – what is the result?
3. If not – does he plan to have such a conversation?
4. Does the head of state intend to convene a meeting of the CSNC on this topic?
The presidency did not respond until late on Friday.
As early as Thursday evening, Radev asked Prime Minister Petkov to convene the government and
to rethink the position To Bulgaria
This decision must be consistent with the national security challenges and the long-term interests of Bulgaria and the thousands of Bulgarian citizens living in the Russian Federation. It is unacceptable that they be left without diplomatic representation. It is unacceptable that decisions related to Bulgaria’s security do not take into account the risks of escalation and their economic consequences, Radev wrote on Facebook.
However, Petkov’s decision not to give in to ultimatums was supported by GERB leader Boyko Borisov. He called a briefing early Friday morning. And after being a guest at the 4th of July party at the US Embassy the night before.
GERB leader Boyko Borissov supported the government’s expulsion of the diplomats.
Ambassador Mitrofanova’s ultimatum is insulting to our government and as a Bulgarian I insist that they do not back down with all the consequences. The gauntlet has been thrown and we must support them. Fulfilling the demands will be capitulation, Borisov said. He still criticizes Petkov that the expulsion of the 70s was done amateurishly and amateurishly. But he developed a theory that we are at war anyway and now everything is black and white. And relations with Russia may improve.
No diplomat should give a deadline of 24 hours – from today to tomorrow. Mrs. Mitrofanova is trying to play with people’s fears, Kiril Petkov hardened his tone afterwards.
Foreign Minister Teodora Genchovska should withdraw the expulsion decision, her deputy minister, who signed it, should be fired, and the head of DANS Plamen Tonchev, who prepared the list of 70 people, should also leave with her.
BSP leader Cornelia Ninova saw this as a solution to the diplomatic scandal. A few days ago, she terminated the negotiations between BSP and PP for a cabinet precisely because of this decision.
There are in the list
data for espionage only for 34 people,
and the others were added by eye, she explained. Therefore, he called for an accurate review of the people against whom there is evidence, and insisted that the others be removed from the list.
In the middle of the night on Thursday, Tonchev and Genchovska spoke about the case in front of the President’s Council of the Parliament=
Asked if there was any evidence that all 70 people worked against Bulgaria, Genchovska answered: You should ask the National Security Agency, only names with personal data arrive at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There is no report, there are two letters with lists signed by the chairman of DANS.
Petkov to be obliged to stop the expulsion of the diplomats. BSP submitted such a proposal to the parliament on Friday. And the head of the red group, Georgi Svilenski, together with his colleagues from ITN Toshko Yordanov and from “Vazrazhdane” Kostadin Kostadinov, signed a letter to the president with the insistence that he convene the CSNS, where the decision can be discussed.
After a midnight session in the National Assembly: they give the prime minister a prosecutor
Genchovska: There is no DANS report
Toshko Yordanov: I am appalled by Kiril Petkov’s lies
Resigned Prime Minister Kiril Petkov will be given to a prosecutor because of the decision on Russian diplomats. This was announced by “Vazrazhdane” after the midnight meeting of the Presiding Council of the Parliament.
Until midnight, the heads of groups and the leadership of the National Assembly discussed the topic, after the ultimatum of the Russian ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova was found out. Foreign Minister Teodora Genchovska, who had just landed from Madrid after the NATO summit, was summoned first. And at 10 p.m. they also called the head of DANCE, Plamen Tonchev.
The prime minister has used the structures of state power for his personal political gain, and therefore we will prepare a report to the prosecutor’s office, announced Kostadin Kostadinov after the end of the 4-hour meeting.
I’m totally dumbfounded by what I heard. Harnessing the whole country around you is against the law. What Petkov has done is an absolute violation of the law, said the head of the ITN group, Toshko Yordanov.
DB co-chairman Hristo Ivanov was more moderate. He explained that the statements made by his colleagues are established by certain bodies, among which is not the Presiding Council of the National Assembly. I cannot tell you what reports the prime minister was talking about. There are two lists of persons for whom DANS claims different degrees of danger to national interests. If DANS claims to have included in these lists people for whom there was insufficient reason, this raises the question of the responsibility of the chairman of DANS, Ivanov said.
The information we received from the prime minister at the closed session is at variance with the real facts specified at the presidential council, the deputy head of the BSP Christian Vigenin said yesterday. The National Assembly was misled about the sequence of actions and causal relationships. The conclusion I draw after these two hearings is that a goal was set to expel a certain number of diplomats and employees of the Russian Embassy, and then for some of these employees reasons were sought for this to happen, summarized Vigenin.
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