Moldova has expelled an employee of the Russian Embassy over “inappropriate behavior” earlier this week at the airport in Chisinau after Moldova barred a Russian delegation from entering the country.
Moldova on April 19 summoned Russian Ambassador Oleg Vasnetsov to the Foreign Ministry to be informed that the employee was being expelled.
Vasnetsov was summoned after a government meeting in which Prime Minister Dorin Recean asked the authorities to consider withdrawing the airport access cards of two Russian Embassy employees and declaring one of them persona non grata.
Moldovan government spokesman Daniel Voda said the two employees of the embassy behaved “inappropriately” at the Chisinau airport after Moldova barred entry to a Russian delegation led by Tatarstan's leader Rustam Minnikhanov. The delegation landed in Chisinau on April 17 to bolster support for the pro-Moscow leader of an autonomous Moldovan territory.
"The prime minister highlighted that inappropriate behavior on the part of foreign officials in relation to our authorities is not tolerated," Voda said without describing the behavior or explaining why only one of the two was expelled.
Voda said Moldovan border police "did their job well and explained very clearly to the people who were not allowed access to the country's territory the legal reasons that were the basis of this decision."
Vasnetsov said he had not received answers to why the embassy employee was being kicked out and why Minnikhanov had been barred.
"We consider these actions to be unfriendly steps toward our country," he told reporters.
After barring the delegation led by Minnikhanov, Moldova told Russian politicians not to meddle in its internal affairs.
Moldovan police said in a statement on April 17 that the delegation aimed to bolster support for a pro-Russian candidate for the leadership of the semiautonomous Gagauzia region in an April 30 election. Moldova has accused Russia of trying to destabilize the country, which Moscow denies.