MOSCOW, April 8 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday that it is expelling 45 Polish diplomats in response to the expulsion of the same number of Russian diplomats from Poland last month.

The ministry said it had summoned the Polish ambassador and declared 45 employees of the Polish Embassy in Moscow and of Polish consulates in Irkutsk, Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg "personae non gratae" who must leave Russia by April 13.

On March 23, the Polish Foreign Ministry ordered 45 Russian diplomats to depart within five days as part of a coordinated action by Western countries to expel several hundreds Russian diplomats since the start of a special military operation in Ukraine.

Also on Friday, Russia announced the expulsion of two Bulgarian diplomats in response to Sofia's move last month.