Russian Foreign Ministry: Presentation of Credentials by Ozerov Delayed for 4 Months Already

The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s second department for CIS countries, Aleksey Polishchuk, said that “it is not easy to be a Russian diplomat in Chisinau now”. He said this in an interview with TASS, recalling that “in 2023, the Moldovan authorities introduced strict quotas for the number of Russian embassy in Chisinau, and in 2024, under far-fetched pretexts, declared two diplomats persona non grata,” infotag.md reported. “Our new ambassador (Oleg Ozerov – editor’s note) after his arrival in Chisinau waited for three weeks to hand over copies of his credentials to the Moldovan Foreign Ministry, while the presentation of their originals to the president has been delayed for four months,” Polishchuk said. He states that “despite this, the embassy continues to work to preserve Russian-Moldovan ties, which have deep historical roots, and maintains contacts with socio-political circles in favor of constructive relations with Russia”. Commenting on the situation with the energy supply in Transnistria, the diplomat said that “about 220,000 Russian citizens living there are on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe”. “This situation was caused by Kyiv’s decision to stop the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine from 1 January and Chisinau’s refusal to recognize debts for the gas supplied. Under the circumstances, the Russian side promptly proposed a new mechanism for humanitarian gas supply. Then the EU also put forward its scheme. In both cases, the gas in question was of Russian origin. However, both options were blocked by the Moldovan side for a long time,” Polishchuk said. He expressed satisfaction that since 1 February, “the first gas has started to flow to Transnistria and the problem has been solved”. “Nevertheless, a permanent solution to the issue of sustainable gas supply is to be found. The Russian side is ready to continue facilitating this,” the diplomat assured.