Kiril Petkov

Bulgarian outgoing Prime Minister Kiril Petkov greets his supporters after the no-confidence vote ousts his government in front of parliament in Sofia, 22 June 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

"Most of these people were working directly for foreign services and their diplomatic role was only a cover-up", Petkov said on Tuesday evening.

The Minister Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation in Sofia Philip Voskresensky - the highest-ranking diplomat, among the 70 who must leave Bulgaria by July 3, announced that the country's consular services in Bulgaria have stopped working. The reason is that they are left without staff to do their job.

The Russian embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/MrPanyGoff.

The embassy claimed in a post on Facebook that it was launching the fundraiser in response to popular demand from Bulgarians.

The consultations convened by President Rumen Radev with the parliamentary groups for forming a new government within the current National Assembly continued for the second day. Here you can catch up on the first day.

The National Council of "We Continue the Change" (WCC) has given a mandate to start negotiations for a new government. On Tuesday, consultations will be held with "Democratic Bulgaria" and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), as well as with independent deputies, the party said.

Leader of "There Is Such a People" Slavi Trifonov will sue the resigned Prime Minister Kiril Petkov. This is clear from a statement of the Sofia City Court.

The amount of his claim is BGN 50,000.

The resignation of the government has been submitted to the National Assembly, BNT reported. At this stage, no statement by the resigned Prime Minister Kiril Petkov is planned.

Petkov's cabinet remained in power for just over six months and was ousted by a no-confidence vote last week with 124 votes from GERB, DPS, Vazrazhdane and the "There Is Such a People" group.

"President Radev and Vice President Yotova began attacking the government in the first month. I had no explanation for why so quickly the president who created Petkov's party 'We Continue the Change', who launched them into power, attacked them.

With 170 votes "In favor", parliament accepted Democratic Bulgaria's proposal to give a mandate to the Council of Ministers to accept the French presidency's proposal for North Macedonia.

Regardless of how the dispute with neighbour North Macedonia ends - an issue that divided the coalition - the political confrontation will only deepen.