Moldova expels 45 Russian diplomats, administrative staff reduced by 60
Corrected: The headline has been corrected and the data on the laid-off employees has been clarified.
The Moldovan government has announced that the number of accredited diplomats and technical and administrative staff of the Russian Embassy in Chișinău would be reduced from 84 to 25.
Source: Daniel Vodă, spokesman for Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean, during a briefing, as reported by a Moldovan news agency Deschide.MD
Details: Recean said that the number of diplomatic positions was reduced to 10 and the number of technical staff to 15.
"This was a fundamental decision of which the Chișinău authorities informed the representative of the Russian Federation this morning at the Foreign Ministry," Vodă said.
Later, Igor Zaharov, Communications Adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Moldova, clarified that the authorities decided to expel 18 diplomats and 27 representatives of the technical staff of the Russian Embassy, NewsMaker reports.
As a result, 45 employees of the Russian Embassy have to leave Moldova – this is less than the government in Chișinău ordered to cut. The difference in numbers can probably be explained by the fact that some positions at the embassy were unfilled.
Earlier, an investigation by Jurnal TV and The Insider was posted, stating that dozens of antennas and satellite dishes were installed on the roof of the Russian embassy in Moldova and used by the Russian secret services for spying.
Afterwards, the Moldovan Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Oleg Vasnetsov to get an explanation of the actions of the Russian secret services in Chișinău.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu said that the country's intelligence services were briefed on the situation and would later propose a "solution to this problem". Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu announced a decision to reduce the number of staff at the Russian Embassy in Chișinău.
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