The Embassy of Russia in the Republic of Moldova will have 10 diplomats and 15 administrative and technical specialists. The decision will be implemented by August 15 this year. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration said the measure was taken as a result of the multiple unfriendly actions towards the Republic of Moldova, which have nothing to do with the diplomatic mandate, and the attempts to destabilize the internal situation in the country, IPN reports.
According to the decision, based on the principle of parity, each state will be represented by 10 diplomats and 15 administrative and technical specialists. The decision to equalize the number of Russian diplomatic, administrative and technical specialists working in the country and the number of Moldovan specialists working in the Russian Federation complies with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of April 18, 1961. This stipulates that “In the absence of an express agreement as to the size of the consular staff, the receiving State may require that the size of the staff be kept within limits considered by it to be reasonable and normal, having regard to circumstances and conditions in the consular district and to the needs of the particular consular post,” explained the Ministry.
In today’s meeting of the Cabinet, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicu Popescu said that during many years or even decades, Moldova has been the target of different types of activities staged by the Russian Federation and rather hostile policies. A part of these were implemented also through the agency of Russia’s Embassy in Chisinau.
The Russian Federation’s Ambassador in Chisinau Oleg Vasnetsov on Wednesday was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration. The diplomat said the decision was probably anticipated, but the Russian side didn’t expect that the official Chisinau will take such radical measures so swiftly. He warned that the given decision very seriously affects the possibility of a dialogue between the two countries.
The spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova said that the official Chisinau’s decision to limit the number of Russian diplomats accredited to Moldova is “unjustified and unfriendly” and will not remain without a response. She noted that this is “one more step taken by the regime in Chisinau, which will destroy the bilateral relations”.
Chisinau’s reaction comes after a journalistic investigation conducted by Jurnal TV and The Insider shows that the number of antennas and broadcast devices on the rood of Russia’s Embassy in Chisinau rises annually, as does the number of mysterious persons who appear there on a constant basis. The movement on the roof takes place especially before the presidential or parliamentary elections or before visits paid by foreign delegations to the Republic of Moldova. It happened so ahead of the European Political Community Summit that was held on June 1 and in May, after a hacker attack on government networks, when thousands of secret documents became accessible to intruders. The journalists identified the men from the Embassy’s roof, who turned out to be classified liaison officers of the GRU and SVR, who have close relations with the groups of hackers who hacked emails of Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and Hillary Clinton. The equipment can collect sensitive information about the country’s security, warned experts.
