Moldova expels Russian diplomats, Moscow says it will respond

On August 1, the Moldovan Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the assistant military attaché of the Russian embassy was persona non grata, with accusations that he was involved in activities “incompatible with diplomatic status.”

Russian Embassy in Moldova. (Source: Reuters)

According to TASS news agency, on July 31, the Moldovan prosecutor's office announced the arrest of an employee of the Moldovan parliament and a border police officer on suspicion of treason and passing information to a foreign embassy.

The prosecutor's office did not mention the country of interest or the names of the officials, but a Moldovan security source confirmed that two suspects were detained on suspicion of providing information to Russia's deputy defense attaché in Chisinau.

Moldova's Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Russian Ambassador to Chisinau Oleg Vasnetsov to hand over a formal protest note over the incident and asked the employee to leave the Eastern European country within a specified period of time.

After the meeting, Ambassador Vasnetsov accused Moldova of taking "unfriendly" steps to undermine relations with Russia, stressing: "In any case, this does not contribute to the spirit of normal understanding and cooperation between the two sides, which we have always urged the Moldovan leadership to pursue."

Meanwhile, on the same day, August 1, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Moscow will respond to Chisinau's decision to expel him.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/moldova-truc-xuat-nhan-vien-ngoai-giao-nga-moscow-noi-se-dap-tra-280987.html