Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has held talks with Moldovan President Igor Dodon in Tehran as both men attended the inauguration ceremony for Iranian President Hassan Rohani.
Rogozin, who is President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for the resolution of the conflict over Moldova's breakaway Transdniester region, posted on Twitter on August 5 that the two men met at the Russian Embassy, but he did not reveal the contents of the discussions.
Earlier, Dodon told journalists the men would discuss a recent decision by the Moldovan government to declare Rogozin persona non grata.
Dodon advocates closer relations between Moscow and Chisinau, while the government in Moldova is controlled by parties advocating closer integration with Europe.
On July 28, Rogozin attempted to visit Transdniester to participate in a ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of Russia's so-called peacekeeping operation there. However, Romania refused to allow the plane carrying Rogozin -- who is under European Union sanctions for his role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine -- to enter its airspace.
The Moldovan government explained the decision to bar Rogozin by citing his controversial public statements about Moldova, its people, and its leadership on July 28 after the incident with Romania.
Moldova regarded the July 29 celebration in Transdniester as provocative because it has repeatedly asked Moscow to withdraw its 1,500 troops from Moldovan territory and for them to be replaced by international monitors.
Moscow-backed and mainly Russian-speaking Transdniester, which borders on Ukraine's Odesa region, declared independence from Moldova in 1990.
The two sides fought a brief war in 1992 that ended when the Russian military intervened on the side of Transdniester, which is not recognized as an independent nation by any country.