Moldova’s foreign ministry has rejected allegations by Russia that it had violated diplomatic conventions by declining to formally accept the credentials of Moscow’s ambassador.
On March 5, the ex-Soviet State’s pro-European Union President Maia Sandu made it clear she had not invited the ambassador to obtain his accreditation because the Kremlin had been “disrespectful” to Moldova.
Sandu has denounced Russia’s three-year-old war in Ukraine and accused Moscow of trying to unseat her government.
The Moldovan foreign ministry said it had in no way violated the 1960 Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations as it was entirely up to the receiving country to decide how to accredit diplomats.
“In this context, the Republic of Moldova rejects any insinuation concerning the violation of the Vienna Convention and stands by its observance of international norms of diplomatic relations,” the ministry said in a statement.
It was responding to the summoning of Moldova’s ambassador in Moscow to the Russian foreign ministry earlier in the day.
The Russian ministry said its ambassador, Oleg Ozerov, had not been asked to present his credentials to Sandu despite being in Moldova since last October.
Sandu told a television interviewer in February: “You cannot invite a representative to present credentials when officials in Moscow make such disrespectful statements about Moldova.
“This shows the Kremlin’s disrespect for our country and its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Moldova, which lies between Ukraine and EU member Romania, has been buffeted by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, with Russian missiles entering its airspace and fragments of drones landing on its territory.
Sandu has championed the drive by Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries, to join the EU by 2030.
She has repeatedly accused Russia of interfering in Moldova’s domestic affairs and the staging of elections.
