Moldova at war with itself over expulsion of Russian diplomats

An internal crisis has erupted in Moldova with the country’s President openly disagreeing with a major decision made by Moldova’s Foreign Ministry.

The Foreign Ministry of Moldova recently expelled Russian diplomats in a move that the Russian Foreign Ministry said has nothing to do with Russia but everything to do with Moldova’s internal politics.

Moldova’s President is generally seen as taking a less negative view towards Russia than his predecessor.

President Igor Dodon took to Facebook saying,

“I want to say that I am deeply embarrassed by this unfriendly step (taken) by the Moldovan diplomatic service and (I) condemn it in the strongest possible terms”.

This comes less than a week after Estonia expelled a set of Russian diplomats under equally unexplained circumstances.

More importantly though, this comes about a week after Ukraine closed its border with Transnistria, a self-governing entity sandwiched between south-west Ukraine and Moldova. Transnistria has been patrolled by peacekeepers including Russian peacekeepers since the end of a war  fought over control of the territory in 1992.

This could be potentially dangerous as Moldova has historically been less friendly to Transnistria than Ukraine which previously allowed shipments into the territory without much fuss, that is until a recent edict from the current post-coup Kiev regime.

READ MORE: Ukrainian regime on verge of creating famine in Transnistria

As President Dodon rightly said, the pro-European members of the Moldovan political class are “so incensed by the success the president managed to achieve in the recent months that they decided to make a direct provocation( against Russia)”.

Apart from the undiplomatic expulsions of Russian officials who stand formally accused of nothing in Moldova, this situation is unique in that a country’s President seems to be at open political war with one of his Ministries.