Outgoing Bulgarian Prime Minister Kirill Petkov rejected a Russian ultimatum to cancel the decision to expel 70 Russian diplomatic staff.

This was reported by Reuters.

Russia issued an ultimatum on Thursday that threatened to close the Russian embassy if Sofia did not cancel the expulsion by Friday afternoon.

Petkov said in a video message that Russia's behavior was unacceptable.

"We will not allow Bulgaria to turn away from its path... We will not allow foreign diplomats to issue ultimatums to the Bulgarian state," he said.

As a reminder, Russian ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova said Moscow was considering breaking diplomatic relations with Sofia if it did not reverse the decision to expel 70 employees of Russian diplomatic missions.

Petkov on Tuesday announced the expulsion of 70 employees of the Russian embassy from the country because they had engaged in spying activities.

According to Bulgarian media, about 150 people worked at the Russian embassy.

The Russian Foreign Ministry responded by saying that after the expulsion by Bulgaria of 70 of its diplomats and embassy staff, Russia reserves the right to retaliate, including "asymmetrical" measures.