Seven Moldovan journalists, including RFE/RL reporter Denis Dermenji, and five senior officials have been banned from entering Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced on January 11, a day after it summoned Moldova's ambassador and handed him a note of protest over Chisinau's "unfriendly acts."
Chisinau-based Dermenji was the co-author of an RFE/RL investigation published in September that found that diplomats with links to Russian intelligence services remained on the staff at the Russian Embassy in Chisinau even after Moldova expelled 45 diplomats from the 70-people-strong Russian mission.
Moldova announced the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats and staff in August, with Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu saying the move would result in fewer "individuals to destabilize the country." Russia immediately retaliated by banning 20 Moldovan officials.
In the January 10 note of protest handed to Moldovan envoy Lilian Darii, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused Chisinau of politically motivated persecution of Russian-language media, discrimination against Russian citizens entering Moldova, and aggressive statements of an anti-Russian nature, spokesman Igor Zakharov was quoted as saying by TASS.
Since becoming president in November 2020, Moldova's pro-Western leader, Maia Sandu, has firmly steered the former Soviet republic sandwiched between war-torn Ukraine and EU and NATO member Romania toward the West, gaining an invitation in 2022 for her country to open negotiations for European Union membership.
Sandu's government has repeatedly accused Moscow of trying to destabilize Moldova and has denounced Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Her government has since constantly worked toward reducing Russia's far-reaching influence in Moldova.
Besides RFE/RL's Dermenji, the journalists banned on January 10 from entering Russia include Adrian Buga, general director of the Jurnal TV news program; journalists Tudor Ionita, Mihai Conceu, Petru Besleaga, Stella Untila, and Lorena Bogza.
The ban also extended to Adrian Belucel, head of the president’s cabinet and a member of the Supreme Security Council; Olga Rosca, presidential advisor for foreign affairs and strategic communications; Artur Mija, secretary general of the government; Alexandru Manoli, head of Moldova's Center for Strategic Communications and Combating Disinformation; and Ruslan Mihalevski, a member of Moldova's Audiovisual Council.
