There are no grounds to declare Ukraine's ambassador to Bulgaria, Olesya Ilashchuk, "persona non grata," prime minister Rumen Radev said today during question time in parliament.

He was responding to Vazrazhdane MP Kosta Stoyanov, who asked about "systematic interference by Ukrainian ambassador Olesya Ilashchuk in Bulgaria's internal affairs" and whether a note would be sent recalling her.

"Declaring someone 'persona non grata' is an extreme, drastic step, and it has to rest on clear, undisputed facts and established circumstances," Radev said, adding that no such evidence exists right now.

So far, he said, only a verbal note from the ambassador has been put on record. In it, she asks Bulgarian institutions and the foreign ministry for more information about Ukrainian citizen Oleg Nevzorov, after a forced administrative measure was imposed on him. Nevzorov has been questioned by prosecutors as a witness.

Radev explained that under the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, any diplomatic representative can seek information about their own citizens in a foreign country, so the note is fully in line with the convention and the ambassador's powers. What exactly is being investigated, and how, is a matter for prosecutors, he said.

Radev also said he expects it to become clear why Denyo Denev, acting head of the State Agency for National Security (DANS) at the time, revoked his own order to expel Nevzorov. No other such case exists. "That gives grounds to think, and suggests, that there may have been pressure," Radev said, but added that there is no documented evidence of any other grounds beyond what the Ukrainian ambassador has stated.

In early June, interior minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said there was evidence of actions by the Ukrainian ambassador after the forced administrative measure against Nevzorov was issued and before it was withdrawn.