Bulgaria's foreign ministry summoned North Macedonia's chargé d'affaires in Sofia today, after Macedonian authorities stopped MP Angel Georgiev from entering the country, the ministry said.

Georgiev, from the Vazrazhdane party, chairs parliament's committee on policy for Bulgarians abroad. Border authorities turned him away on September 27, even though he was traveling with a Bulgarian parliamentary delegation.

Georgiev had planned to attend a hearing on September 28 in the case against Bulgarian citizen Iva Mihaylova in Kočani, the ministry said. He had entered North Macedonia for the same reason several times in recent months without any problem, it added.

Sofia has asked Skopje to explain why he was stopped this time and called the move a provocation.

Georgiev himself wrote about the incident on Facebook a day before the ministry issued its statement.