The first secretary collected information on elections from 2017, while the trade official gathered sensitive information on the energy sector and energy security from October 2018, they said. The Russian embassy in Sofia said in a statement that the two men had been ordered to leave Bulgaria and would do so.

However it added that "no evidence was presented as proof of (their) activities" and that Russia "reserved the right to reciprocal measures". "We also consider the decision of the Bulgarian authorities to announce this information publicly before officially notifying the embassy as incompatible with the traditionally constructive spirit of our relations," the statement added.

Bulgarian prosecutors had earlier described both men as diplomats but the Russian statement suggested that only the consular first secretary had this status. In October, Bulgaria expelled another first secretary at the Russian embassy for gathering classified information on Bulgaria, the European Union and NATO.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2020

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