The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation summoned Moldova’s Ambassador in Moscow Lilian Darii to present him with a note of protest against the Moldovan authorities’ decision of March 19 to declare an employee of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau an undesirable person and to prohibit the entry into Moldova of a Russian delegation to participate in the 34th session of the United Nations’s FAO Regional Conference for Europe from 14 to 17 May. In response to the expulsion of the employee of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau, the Russian side declared “persona non grata” an employee of the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Russia, IPN reports.
Ambassador Lilian Darii was told that “Chisinau deliberately abuses the status of host country and openly politicizes FAO activities.: According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, “such self-governance of the Moldovan authorities flagrantly violates their commitment to ensure equal participation of all member states in this UN event.”
Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Moldova’s Ambassador in Moscow Lilian Darii was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry. The MFA regrets the decision to declare an employee of the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Moscow persona non grata on the territory of the Russian Federation, and he is to return to the country. The MFA noted that the Moldovan authorities are taking all the necessary measures to prevent attempts to interfere in Moldova’s internal affairs.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova decided not to allow official representatives of the Russian Federation to attend the FAO Regional Conference for Europe in person and to limit the participation to embassy level or online format due to the Russian Federation’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine, which blatantly violated the UN Charter, caused multiple crises and undermined food security internationally. On March 19, Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that an employee of the Russian Embassy was declared persona non grata. The decision was communicated to Russian Ambassador Oleg Vasnetsov, who was summoned to the MFA following the opening by the Russian Federation of polling stations on the territory of the Transnistrian region for the Russian presidential election, contrary to the position of the constitutional authorities of the Republic of Moldova.
