"On 11 May, Romanian Ambassador to Russia, Cristian Istrate, was invited to the Russian Foreign Ministry, where he was handed a note from the ministry declaring Captain Iliescu, aide to military attache at the Romanian Embassy, persona non grata. The said officer was ordered to leave the territory of Russia within 72 hours," the statement says.
The statement added that the step had been taken in response to the fact that an aide to the Russian military attache in Romania, Alexey Grishaev, had been declared persona non grata on 26 April. Romania's ministry explained that Grishaev's actions "contravene the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations", but did not specify what activities they considered as breaching the convention.
Moscow slammed the expulsion as an "unfriendly move" and vowed to respond in kind.