SOFIA - Bulgaria has banned two Russian citizens from entering the European Union over their alleged role in a security agency operation in the Balkan country, its state security agency said on Monday.

Vladimir Nikolayevich Gorochkin, 39, born in Kaliningrad, and 37-year old Tatyana Anatolievna Gorochkina, presented themselves as Bulgarian nationals Denis Rashkov and Diana Rashkova.

"The main purpose of their presence in Bulgaria was to obtain the Bulgarian identity documents and credible biographical data, which they would later use to carry out intelligence activities outside Bulgaria," the agency said.

Bulgaria, a member of the EU and NATO, issued a five-year ban on the two Russians entering the 27-nation EU.

Bulgaria in September expelled the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia and two Belarusian priests, accusing them of serving Moscow's geopolitical interests.

Five Bulgarian nationals accused of being part of a Russian spying network in Britain tasked with carrying out surveillance and obtaining information, were arrested last year.

The three men and two women are accused of conspiring to collect information intended to be useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety of the state between August 2020 and February 2023. They appeared before the court in September. REUTERS