Australia is one of 30-or-so nations who've now expelled Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity for Britain, which blames Russia for poisoning a former spy on it's soil.
Moscow vehemently denies responsibility and has retaliated against the United States for that country's actions in the wake of the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
Russia has ordered 60 US diplomats to leave Russia next week, and is closing the U-S consulate in the country's second-largest city, St Petersburg.
The U-S had previously ordered a similar number of Russian diplomats to leave the U-S as a reaction to the Skripal incident.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says countries are ganging up on Russia.
While there is a "high probability", but there is no hard evidence, we cannot discuss the recall of Bulgarian diplomats from Russia.
This was stated by Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on the occasion of the decision of the European Union to support the assessment of Britain that Russia is responsible for the attack with a neuropathic substance against the former Russian spy Sergei Scripal and his daughter Julia.
A few days later, however, Boyko Borisov recalled the Bulgarian Ambassador to Russia for consultations on the Skripal case.
Meanwhile, the European Union and Turkey reaffirmed at a summit in Bulgaria’s city of Varna their commitment to a refugee accord intended to prevent an influx of Mideast asylum seekers, but achieved no progress in resolving Ankara’s disputes with Greece and Cyprus.
Political analysis by Plamen Asenov.
