Russia’s Foreign Ministry declares employee of Moldova’s Embassy persona non grata in response to Russian diplomat being expelled

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has declared an employee of Moldova’s Embassy persona non grata, as per the ministry’s website.

The decision was made “in response” to the decision made by Moldovan authorities on 19 April to declare an employee of the Russian Embassy in Moldova persona non grata.

Moldova’s Ambassador to Russia Lilian Darii was told that Russia “strongly protests the continuous unfriendly steps taken by official Chișinău towards Moscow”, the statement reads.

Furthermore, the Russian ministry has decided to ban entry to Russia to several Moldovan officials in response to “regular anti-Russian statements, as well as Chișinău joining the European Union’s sanctions lists”.

On 17 April, head of Russia’s Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov was not allowed to enter Moldova. He claimed that the country’s authorities decided he was an “undesirable citizen”.

Minnikhanov flew to Chișinău to attend the Friendship of the Peoples 2023 congress on invitation from candidate to the role of the head of Moldova’s Gagauzia Viktor Petrov and deputy for the Moldovan Parliament Alexander Sukhodolsky. Sukhodolsky told Russian state news agency TASS that he had invited Minnikhanov to the congress officially and had been waiting for him at the airport with all the necessary documents.

Moldova’s border service reported that several citizens were not allowed to enter Moldova due to not being able to justify their reason for entering the country as well as “getting mixed up in what they were saying”.

“The statement made by the Russian official who recently returned from our country about being declared ‘persona non grata’ in Moldova is also false. Supporting a local election candidate in our country is not a valid reason [to enter it], and the authorities have asked Russian officials to refrain from interfering in our country’s internal affairs,” the service said in a statement.