Article author:
Reuters
Sofia-Bulgaria has blocked the transfer of banks worth about $ 890,000 to the Russian embassy due to EU sanctions, Wednesday a few days after Sofia expelled 70 Russian diplomatic staff from Balkan. Said Finance Minister Assembasilev.
"There is a bank transfer to the Russian embassy, which is directly under European Commission sanctions. There are no frozen bank accounts," Vasilev told reporters.
Mr. Vasilev said the Russian embassy was seeking condemnation because it needed money to pay the salaries of its staff. He said the Bulgarian government is currently in talks with Brussels on whether to waive sanctions to allow the transfer.
Bulgaria, a member of the EU and NATO and once a close ally of Russia, after Prime Minister Kiril Petkov announced the expulsion of 70 Russian diplomatic staff due to concerns about espionage. , I was caught up in diplomatic tensions.
Moscow said it would retaliate in kind, but Sophia's Russian ambassador said he would ask the Russian government to close the embassy.
The EU and other Western nations have broken full economic sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (Report by Tsvetelia Tsolova, edited by Gareth Jones)
