The Russian diplomat declared undesirable in Moldova by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chisinau is Dmitry Kelov, assistant to the military attaché of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau, sources of RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service in diplomatic circles and in the Security and Intelligence Service have said.
Dmitry Kelov was accredited to the Republic of Moldova in August 2021, and in November he joined the Russian delegation to the Joint Control Commission, a trilateral institution responsible for overseeing the situation in the security zone on the Nistru.
Data from the Russian register of means of transport, consulted by RFE, show that Dmitry Kelov has a residence visa in Moscow, at 4 Marshal Biriuzov St. Kelov’s boss, the military and air attaché of Russia’s Embassy in Chisinau, Andrei Lobov, has his residence a short distance away, in the northwestern district of Moscow.
The building in which Kelov resides has been used for years to house employees of the Russian Army’s Intelligence Directorate (GRU), including agent Anatoly Chepiga, who in 2018 was accused of poisoning former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with Novichok gas in the UK.
The assistant to the military attaché was declared undesirable in Moldova on August 1, after two Moldovan officials were detained a day earlier on suspicion of treason. According to prosecutors, they allegedly collected and furnished information detrimental to the interests of the Republic of Moldova to an employee of Russia’s Embassy in Chisinau.
Kelov is one of the ten Russian diplomats who remained at the Embassy of Russia in Chisinau after the great expulsion of August 2023.
