Moldova's Foreign Ministry has declared an employee of the Russian Embassy to Chisinau persona non grata and gave him 48 hours to leave the country. The move comes hours after authorities in Chisinau detained two Moldovan officials following a raid by security forces on parliament premises linked to a spying investigation.
Russian Ambassador Oleg Vasnetsov "was summoned today to the Foreign Ministry and was handed a note on declaring an embassy employee persona non grata," the ministry said in a statement on August 1, adding that the move was prompted by Moldovan authorities obtaining "information and evidence" proving that the Russian diplomat conducted "activities incompatible with diplomatic status on the territory of Moldova."
Neither the Moldovan government nor Vasnetsov identified the Russian diplomat to be expelled. But diplomatic and intelligence sources told RFE/RL that he is Dmitry Kelov, the deputy military attache at the embassy.
Russia's Foreign Ministry called Moldova's decision an "unfriendly step" and vowed to retaliate, without giving details.
The move came shortly after agents of Moldova's Intelligence and Security Service (SIS) and the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) searched the building of Moldova's parliament and detained an employee of the legislature and a border police official suspected of treason and conspiracy.
The two, who according to Moldovan law can be held for 72 hours, allegedly collected and gave an employee of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau information that harms Moldova's interests.
"It is paramount that we make sure now that this treason case will be punished in the harshest way according to the law," Moldova's pro-Western President Maia Sandu said in an interview with Moldova's Jurnal TV late on July 31.
Under U.S.-educated Sandu, who came to power in November 2020 after defeating Moscow-backed incumbent Igor Dodon, Moldova, a former Soviet republic, has sought to curb Russia's decades-long ubiquitous influence over its politics.
Last year in August, Moldova expelled 45 of the 70 Russian diplomats from the embassy in Chisinau after a media investigation revealed that the embassy building had an unusually high number of antennas installed on its roof that were suspected of gathering information for Russian intelligence services.
However, despite the sizeable expulsions, an RFE/RL investigation in September 2023 found that at least two of the remaining diplomats have ties to the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia's powerful domestic intelligence agency, while two others have been associated with Moscow addresses linked to the Russian military's intelligence directorate.
Since the start of Russia's unprovoked aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, Moldova has sided firmly with the West in condemning the invasion and has housed tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees.
Last month, Moldova opened accession negotiations with the European Union after being granted candidate status together with Ukraine in June 2022.