On 3 November 2023, Russia stripped a Moscow correspondent for Bulgarian National Radio of accreditation and expelled him. The move was made soon after Sofia kicked out an employee of a Russian state-controlled media outlet on national security grounds.
Russia’s foreign ministry said that Angel Grigorov was told to leave Moscow after Sofia expelled Alexander Gatsak, a correspondent for newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, whom Bulgaria said posed “a threat to national security”.
The Bulgarian National Radio issued a statement on the situation, in which the media corporation explained that Grigorov was the only remaining Bulgarian journalist still accredited to work in Russia, nearly two years after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Bulgaria’s national radio service added that Grigorov had worked as a correspondent in Moscow for more than six years, and that he had “strictly observed international professional and ethical journalistic standards”.