Poisoning of former Colonel GRU Sergei Skripal split the West into two camps. The majority sided with London, supporting unsubstantiated accusations against Russia. However, a number of countries unexpectedly refused to put pressure on Moscow and maintained neutrality with the hope that the British would still submit any evidence. Thus, Bulgaria turned its back on Britain, which, like the other "opposition" countries, is not going to send either Russian diplomats or technical personnel. This was announced by the Prime Minister of the Republic Boyko Borisov. "In practice, we showed complete solidarity with Britain. At the moment, as a country - chairman in the Council of Europe, we believe that we need to maintain a channel of communication with Russia, "- quotes the Bulgarian Prime Minister" Channel 3 ". This decision indicates the presence of "common sense" in the leadership of a solar country, says political scientist Dmitry Zhuravlev. "Britain did not bother to prove the allegations. She demanded a single action simply on the grounds that - "we are allies, then you must do as we are". With Bulgaria, we had different stages of relations in the post-Soviet period. But common sense Bulgarians did not change, they did not go on about the British ", - said the expert on the radio Sputnik. According to him, such behavior, of course, will affect Sofia, because Brussels will not leave such a provocative escapade without attention. At the same time, the European elite understands that it is impossible to completely break off ties with Russia. "The EU, most likely, will try to press Bulgaria, they say, there is nothing to jump out of action. As I understand it, the EU itself is not completely sure of the correctness of the British position, but, nevertheless, they are still lined up in Euro-Atlantic solidarity. Therefore, on the one hand, Brussels, of course, will put pressure on the Bulgarians, so that others will not want to, but inwardly they are unlikely to want very much to break something. Because in reality relations with Russia, despite all the sanctions, continue, and they need the EU more than Russia, "the political scientist explained.. The total expulsion of diplomats because of the so-called "business of Skripal" was started by Great Britain, most of the countries of the European Union joined it, as well as the USA, Canada, Norway, Ukraine and several other states.

At the initiative of some, dozens of ambassadors left for Russia, others limited themselves to one or two consuls. London decided to hang the blame on Moscow, which categorically denies its involvement in the poisoning of former Colonel GRU and his daughter.

However, there were countries that do not share the opinion of the United Kingdom and left Russian diplomats in their places. The opposition of Britain was made by Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Greece, Malta, Luxembourg, Portugal, Cyprus and Serbia. Thus, Bulgaria became the tenth country on this list.