A delegation of the Republic of Moldova led by secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Tatiana Molchan leaves for Moscow on November 8 to meet with a Russian delegation headed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affair Grigory Karasin. The inter-ministerial political consultations will take place on the initiative of Chisinau, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova, IPN reports.
Under the agenda, the sides will consider possibilities of advancing the political dialogue and extending cooperation in the commercial, economic and social sectors and interaction in the cultural-humanitarian and other spheres. There will also be discussed problematic aspects of the bilateral relations, including the difficulties experienced by high-ranking Moldovan officials when travelling to Russia, and the draft intergovernmental agreements on cooperation in the fields of labor force migration and readmission and the program of cooperation in the humanitarian sphere.
In a news conference on November 5, President Igor Dodon said the given visit will represent the first contact between the foreign ministries after the Government of the Republic of Moldova last March banned all the employees of state institutions from going to Russia.
In March 2017, the Moldovan government transmitted a note to the political administration of the Russian Federation through Russia’s Ambassador in Chisinau Farit Muhametshin. The note signaled a series of abuses committed against officials of Moldova’s Parliament, Government, intelligence services and parties of the government coalition and described the abusive way in which Moldovan officials were stopped at the entry to Russia, being interrogated, searched and humiliated by representatives of Russian special services. Farit Muhametshin was then informed that until the problem is solved, the Moldovan officials were requested to refrain from travelling to Russia.
