Moldova has ordered 45 Russian diplomats and embassy staff to leave the country, citing years of “hostile actions” by Moscow.
“We agreed on the need to limit the number of accredited diplomats from Russia, so that there are fewer people trying to destabilize the Republic of Moldova,” Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu said.
Russia will need to reduce its embassy personnel from more than 80 to 25 by Aug. 15, the foreign ministry said.
“For many years we have been the object of hostile Russian actions and policies. Many of them were made through the embassy,” Popescu said.
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the move would “not go unanswered,” calling it “another step in the destruction of bilateral relations” between the countries.
The Kremlin said it regretted Moldova’s decision. “Unfortunately, Chișinău is deliberately driving our relations into a very miserable state,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Relations between Russia and Moldova, a former Soviet republic, deteriorated after President Maia Sandu condemned Moscow’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine and accused Mpscow of trying to overthrow her pro-Western government.
In his remarks on Wednesday, Popescu alluded to a media report from The Insider and television channel Jurnal TV about equipment installed on the Russian embassy’s rooftop that could be used for spying.
The investigation published this week claimed that that 28 antennas on Russia’s embassy in Chișinău and an adjacent building could have espionage purposes.
Russia’s ambassador to Moldova, Oleg Vasnetsov, said the embassy needed antennas because it was built at the end of the 1990s.
