The Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Moldova, Oleg Vasnetsov, was invited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, this time over the statements made by the spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova about President Maia Sandu.

“This is aggressive and unacceptable rhetoric after the last statements by the spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ambassador of the Russian Federation was summoned to the MFAEI last week and was handed over a protest note over these direct insults to the President of the Republic of Moldova,” Daniel Vodă, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, has told IPN.

Maria Zakharova made the statements following the adoption of the new Electoral Code of the Republic of Moldova and these referred to the decision to no longer print ballots in Russian for elections. According to her, this is a violation of the rights of Russian speakers as Maia Sandu, when she competed for office of President, promised to do her best to ensure the use of the Russian language was at an appropriate level, “but it seems that she lied then”.