Nov 10 (Reuters) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it had declared a Moldovan diplomat at the country’s Moscow embassy undesirable in retaliation for a similar Moldovan move undertaken last month.
A statement posted on the ministry’s website said Moldova’s ambassador had been summoned to be informed of the decision “based on the principle of reciprocity,” referring to a Moldovan decision dated October 23 to declare an employee of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau a ‘persona non grata.’
Ex-Soviet Moldova, lying between Ukraine and Romania and led by pro-European President Maia Sandu, is seeking membership of the European Union by 2030.
The Moldovan government has issued a long series of protests about what it says are Russian drones from the more than 4-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine that have landed on its territory.
In one incident in mid-October, it said five drones crashed inside Moldova in less than 24 hours.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Moldova had provided no proof that the drones were Russian and accused Moldovan authorities of whipping up anti-Russian sentiment.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrea Ricci )
