The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia summoned the Moldovan ambassador Lilian Daria and reported that it had declared one of the employees of the Moldovan embassy persona non grata. Russia also banned the entry of some Moldovan officials.
The press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia writes about this.
"A strong protest has been expressed to the ambassador in connection with the unfriendly steps taken by the official Chisinau towards Russia," they noted.
Russia expels the Moldovan diplomat in response to Moldovaʼs decision on April 19 to expel the Russian diplomat. As for the ban on entry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation did not inform whom exactly it would apply to.
On April 19, the Russian Ambassador to Moldova Oleh Vasnetsov was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova. The reason was the incident with the head of Tatarstan Rustam Minikhanov, who was not allowed to enter Moldova. He arrived in the country on a private plane. Minikhanov himself is under Western sanctions. A Russian official was not allowed to enter Moldova and his entry was prohibited. After that, one of the employees of the Russian embassy was declared persona non grata.
The Russian Embassy in Chisinau called the decision of the Moldovan authorities to declare one of the employees of the diplomatic mission persona non grata "unfounded and politically involved".