Ukrainian Ambassador to Moldova: President Dodon is not welcome to visit Ukraine due to his anti-Ukrainian position
A visit by the Moldovan President to Kyiv is not possible in the near future as Igor Dodon doesn’t respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine and refers to the conflict in the Donbas as a civil war, as stated by the Ambassador of Ukraine in Chisinau, Ivan Gnatyshyn, Newsmaker.md reports.
"As for the contacts at the highest level, I can’t imagine such a meeting given the situation where the Moldovan President, elected by a part of the Moldovan society, or even by the majority of Moldovan society, doesn’t respect the territorial integrity of my country and says that there is a civil war in Ukraine. What understanding and contacts can we talk about?" the ambassador said.
The diplomat's statement became a reaction to a speech given by the Institute of Strategic Initiatives Head of Moldova, the former Deputy Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova, Andrei Popov.
He said that with an unprecedentedly high intensity of contacts at the executive level, the dialogue between the two Presidents is completely absent, and this is a negative factor for bilateral relations.
Popov also believes that this has a negative impact on the perception of Ukraine in the eyes of some of the Moldovan population – Dodon’s supporters and those who receive information primarily from Russian media.
During the election campaign, Igor Dodon has said that the Crimea belongs to Russia. Subsequently, he repeated the statement about the "Russian Crimea" and explained his views.
Since the time of his presidency, Dodon has never visited Ukraine, although he repeatedly expressed his readiness to pay a visit to Kyiv.
It was reported earlier that the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Volodymyr Groysman, would pay a visit to Moldova on October 6th.