President Dodon calls expulsion of Russian diplomats from Moldova an 'anti-Russian provocation'
Moldovan President Igor Dodon has condemned the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Moldova as an “anti-Russian provocation."
He wrote this in Facebook in a comment on the decision by the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs to declare three Russian diplomats persona non grata.
"I express my profound indignation at the decision of the Government to expel Russian diplomats from the Republic of Moldova. I categorically condemn this as a new anti-Russian provocation," Dodon said.
The President stressed that Moldova does not have any alliance obligations to the UK nor other NATO members which would require the country to take steps to show such block solidarity.
"I would like to note that a number of NATO member countries, such as Slovakia and Turkey, and a European Union member country - Austria - have refrained from taking part in this collective anti-Russian demarche," he added.
The decision to expel the diplomats was taken by the Moldovan authorities in the wake of the Council of Europe's March 24 decision to recognize the Salisbury attack as a challenge to collective security, as a sign of solidarity with Britain.
On Monday, March 26, approximately twenty countries worldwide simultaneously announced plans to expel Russian diplomats involved in intelligence activities; on March 27, several additional countries joined this action. New Zealand could not find someone to expel but supported the decision.
The UK, on whose territory the Russian spy-defector Sergei Skripal was poisoned, declared this to be a demonstration of the unity of the West in the face of the Russian threat.
Britain announced on March 14 that it would expel 23 Russian diplomats.