Bulgaria

SOFIA, July 1 (Reuters) - Russia's ambassador to Bulgaria said on Friday she would ask Moscow to close its embassy in the Balkan country after her appeal for Sofia to reverse what she called an unprecedented hostile step to expel 70 Russian diplomatic staff was ignored.

In a statement addressed to the Bulgarian people, the ambassador, Eleonora Mitrofanova, said the closure of the Russian embassy would inevitably lead to the closure of Bulgaria's embassy in Moscow too.

SOFIA, July 1 (Reuters) - Bulgaria's outgoing Prime Minister Kiril Petkov rejected a Russian ultimatum to reverse a decision to expel 70 Russian diplomatic staff by noon on Friday and named the country's finance minister as his possible successor.

The Balkan nation, an EU and NATO member state and once a close ally of Russia, has been roiled in recent days by political upheaval which saw parliament pass a vote of no-confidence in the coalition government last week and Petkov this week announce the Russian expulsions on espionage concerns.

SOFIA, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov submitted the resignation of his coalition government to the National Assembly on Monday after it was ousted in a no-confidence motion, the press office of the Parliament said.

According to the country's Constitution, resigning is compulsory after a losing vote.

Petkov's government will continue to act until the election or appointment of a new Council of Ministers.

SOFIA, April 15 (Reuters) - The war in Ukraine is likely to hit Bulgaria's economic growth, speed up inflation and could pose credit risks, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.

The IMF, which concluded a staff visit to Sofia, sees Bulgaria's growth tentatively near 3% this year, down from an earlier estimate of 4.4%, while inflation was likely to reach double digits in 2022, it said in a statement.

SOFIA, April 1 (Reuters) - Bulgaria's foreign ministry said on Friday it has declared one Russian diplomat "persona non grata" and given him 72 hours to leave the Balkan country over accusations of spying.

The ministry said it was informed by the country's prosecutors that a diplomat from the Russian embassy had been involved in unregulated intelligence activity.

Earlier on Friday prosecutors said they were investigating two officials of Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security and a government official for allegedly spying for Russia.

SOFIA, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said in Brussels on Thursday that his country would recall its ambassador to Russia for consultations, according to a press release from the government.

The reactions came after a recent interview of the Russian Ambassador to Sofia Eleonora Mitrofanova with the Russia 24 TV channel.

During the interview, Mitrofanova said that the people of Bulgaria do not support the rhetoric and actions of their government regarding the "special operation in Ukraine."

SOFIA, February 1. /TASS/: Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova elaborated on Moscow's demand for NATO to return to its 1997 borders, emphasizing that this does not entail Bulgaria leaving the alliance in an interview with the NOVA TV channel on Tuesday.

SOFIA, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Bulgaria's state and political leaders have been in self-isolation after Parliament Speaker Nikola Minchev tested positive for COVID-19, authorities said Tuesday.

The measure was taken after Minchev tested positive on Monday evening, hours after a meeting of the country's Consultative Council on National Security (CCNS) where he participated together with President Rumen Radev, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and other high officials.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — The leaders of four Bulgarian parties on Friday said they’ve agreed to form a centrist-led coalition that would end a months-long political crisis, giving a country beset by economic and health problems its first regular government since April.

The agreement followed lengthy talks between the winner of last month’s general election, the centrist We Continue the Change (PP) party, two right-leaning parties and a Socialist party.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — A bus carrying North Macedonians home from a tourist trip to Istanbul crashed and caught fire in western Bulgaria early Tuesday, killing at least 45 people, authorities and local media said.

The accident happened around 2 a.m. and there were children among the victims, authorities said. Seven people were taken to hospitals for treatment.

The cause of the crash was not immediately confirmed, but it appeared that the bus hit a highway guard rail, crashed and caught fire.