ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — On Monday, the Russian embassy in Moldova received a note from Chisinau stating that five Russian diplomats had been declared personae non grata and would have to leave the country, with the Russian Foreign Ministry announcing on Wednesday that it would reciprocate by expelling five Moldovan diplomats.
"[These measures] make no sense whatsoever, from the point of view of pragmatism, they do nothing useful for Chisinau, but instead it is a sort of an argument in internal political debates," Zakharova said while visiting the exhibition stand of Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
According to Zakharova, the situation was caused by internal disagreements and contradictions between various factions of those in power in Moldova, but it did not seem to be beneficial to anyone else in the country.
SPIEF, held in Russia's second largest city between Thursday and Saturday, is a major global platform for communication between business representatives and discussion of crucial economic issues. The Sputnik news agency is an official media partner of the forum.
