MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/: The first secretary of the Moldovan embassy in Moscow, Valeriu Manea, has been declared persona non grata, a Moldovan diplomatic source told TASS on Tuesday.
"Valeriu Manea has been declared persona non grata in Russia," the source said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that an employee of the Moldovan embassy in Moscow had been declared persona non grata as a measure taken in response to Moldova’s unmotivated decision of April 19 to declare a Russian embassy employee persona non grata. Moldovan Ambassador to Russia Lilian Darii was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to be handed a corresponding note. He was also notified about Russia’s decision to ban entry for a number of Moldovan officials in response to their regular anti-Russian pronouncements and to Chisinau’s joining the European Union’s sanctions against Russian nationals.
A spokesperson for Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Filip Cojocaru, said last week that Chisinau had declared a Russian embassy employee persona non grata. Russian Ambassador to Moldova Oleg Vasnetsov said, after visiting the Moldovan foreign ministry, that he had not received a coherent explanation as to why the expulsion decision was made.
