Moldova expels Russian embassy employee: Zakharova has already responded

Moldova expels Russian embassy employee: Zakharova has already responded Polina Buyanova

Moldova declared Russian diplomat persona non grata/Collage 24 Kanal

The Moldovan Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Oleg Vasnetsov. He was informed that one of the Russian embassy employees had been declared persona non grata.

The decision to expel the Russian diplomat was made immediately after the searches in the Moldovan parliament. They were conducted on July 31 by employees of the Intelligence and Security Service (SIS) and the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Crime and Particularly Important Cases of Moldova (PCCOCS).

Moldova declared a Russian diplomat persona non grata

After the searches, a parliamentary employee and a border police officer were detained for 72 hours on suspicion of treason and conspiracy.

According to the prosecutor's office, they were collecting and transmitting information to an employee of the Russian embassy in Chisinau that “harms the interests of the Republic of Moldova”.

According to media reports, one of those detained was the head of the parliament's legal department Ion Creange. He was allegedly caught red-handed while passing information to employees of the Russian embassy in Chisinau.

How Russia is reacting

Russian Foreign Ministry representative Maria Zakharova stated that Moscow regards Moldova's decision as “another manifestation of an aggressive anti-Russian course”.

The fabrication and promotion of “spy stories” indicate that official Chisinau has lost the ability to take adequate action, Zakharova commented cynically, keeping to her style statements.

By the way, in early June journalists reported that the former head of the General Staff of Moldova Igor Gorgan could have worked for the Russian GRU over the past 20 years. In particular, he could have been an informant for the main intelligence agency of Russia.