Kiril Petkov

At 5:00 p.m., the procedure for handing over the first mandate to form a new government within the framework of the 47th National Assembly by President Rumen Radev to the largest political group in the parliament - "We Continue the Change" - began.

"GERB-SDS will not conduct any talks to support a government within this parliament with any mandate", the chairwoman of the parliamentary group Desislava Atanasova told journalists on the sidelines of the National Assembly. "We believe", she pointed out, "that it is right to have early parliamentary elections as quickly as possible".

Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova announced that she intends to propose to the leadership of her country to close the Russian embassy in Bulgaria because of Sofia's refusal to cancel the decision to expel 70 Russian diplomats and officials.

"Our condition for negotiating with 'We Continue the Change' was that Kiril Petkov should not be a candidate for prime minister. This condition is met. We will talk to WCC about forming a government". This was said by BSP leader Kornelia Ninova after it became clear that WCC was proposing Asen Vassilev for Prime Minister.

Two important political plots await an outcome today - who will be the candidate of "We Continue the Change" for prime minister in the new attempt to form a government and how will Bulgaria react to Moscow's ultimatum to cancel the unprecedented decision to expel 70 Russian diplomats and officials from Bulgaria the embassy.

"The resigned government has the support of GERB for the expulsion of the Russian diplomats and officials. There must be no retreat. It was amateurish, but it's been done."

"It became clear that the work on the issue of expelled Russian diplomats has not been conducted recently, but started in March - there are reports, then 3 reports from SANS, then the Security Council with all services", said the resigned Prime Minister Kiril Petkov today in the corridors of the National Assembly after negotiations with the BSP parliamentary group.

"There is an interdepartmental report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and there is a decision of the Security Council, which was attended by the Ministers of Interior, Defense, Foreign Affairs, Deputy Minister of Finance, Minister of e-Government, Chief of Defense, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Interior, SANS, the chairman of Intelligence Agency director of Military Int

Less than 24 hours after the expulsion of 70 Russian diplomats, BSP leader Kornelia Ninova announced that the Bulgarian Socialist Party has suspended all negotiations with "We Continue the Change" to form a cabinet.

President Rumen Radev commented on the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Bulgaria in a statement to the media ahead of the NATO leaders' summit in Madrid.

"I cannot discuss this issue because I do not have the necessary information", Radev said.