Citizens gathered in front of the Church of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Maker, widely known as the Russian Church, in Sofia to express their dissatisfaction with its closing. 

"The Russian temple, which for many years was a place of common prayer for Russians and Bulgarians, will now be closed," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said after the Bulgarian authorities decided to expel the church's head and two Belarusian priests. This was done on the grounds that the clerics posed a threat to national security. 

Meanwhile, the Minister of Military Affairs, Todor Tagarev, said that the services had compelling information that the three were serving Moscow's geopolitical interests. "There is a SANS report that shows that they are carrying out actions that are not consistent with their status in Bulgaria," Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov said. 

"The Church of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Maker will at this stage cease its activities, its further fate will be decided by the Russian Orthodox Church," reads a message on the Facebook page of the Russian Embassy in the country.

Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova told Russia-24 online live TV channel that the Bulgarian Ambassador to Russia Atanas Kristin will be summoned at the Russian Foreign Ministry over the expulsion of the three priests. "I think that no one will take mirror actions with regard to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Moscow. We are not barbarians," Mitrofanova said.