Russia expels Moldovan diplomat in tit-for-tat move

Russia has expelled a Moldovan diplomat in retaliation for Chisinau’s expulsion of a Russian embassy employee over the crash of a drone in Moldova.

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday that it had summoned Moldova’s ambassador, Lilian Darii, and informed him that a member of the Moldovan embassy’s staff had been declared unacceptable “on the basis of the principle of reciprocity”.

“A strong protest was lodged with the ambassador after the Moldovan authorities on October 23 declared an employee of the Russian embassy in Chisinau persona non grata,” the ministry said in a statement.

It said Moldova’s decision was made “under the formal pretext of the alleged discovery on the territory of the republic of debris of an unmanned aerial vehicle carrying explosives”, calling it “another unfriendly step”.

The ministry said the “true goal” of the move was “to further undermine the centuries-long history of Russian-Moldovan relations”.

Last month, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said a “Russian attack drone” had violated the country’s airspace and “crashed near homes and an energy facility”.

Moldova then declared a staff member of the Russian embassy “persona non grata”.

Drones have penetrated Moldovan territory on multiple occasions since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Since then, Russia’s relations with former Soviet states, such as Moldova, have hit an all-time low, compounded by the push by some of those states to join the European Union.

On Sunday, Moldova officially launched a new power line connecting the country to neighbouring Romania and the European grid to reduce its dependence on Russian energy.

The 400-kilovolt extra-high-voltage line, which runs from the city of Vulcanesti to Chisinau, allows Moldova to cut reliance on the Cuciurgan thermal power plant in Transnistria.

Other European-aligned states in the Black Sea region say they are experiencing renewed attacks allegedly carried out by Moscow, such as a drone strike that sank a cargo ship off Romania’s Black Sea coast in October.