CHISINAU, March 12. /TASS/. The Moldovan Foreign Ministry has lodged a formal protest in connection with the opening of polling stations for the Russian presidential election in the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, or Transnistria, Russian Ambassador to Moldova Oleg Vasnetsov said.

"We made this decision (to open polling stations - TASS) together with the Russian Central Election Commission [CEC] and the Russian Foreign Ministry. And together with the Transnistrian administration we will open several polling stations. Of course, there won’t be 30 polling stations like in 2021, including 27 in Transnistria. The Moldovan Foreign Ministry today expressed its dissatisfaction and protest over these actions," the diplomat said after visiting the ministry.

Vasnetsov called on all Russian citizens living in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau to take part in the Russian presidential election on March 17.

During the Russian presidential election in March 2018, a total of 27 polling stations were opened in Moldova. Three of them were opened on the territory of Moldova, and 24 more on the territory of Transnistria. In an interview with TASS on February 8, Vasnetsov said that, this year, the Moldovan authorities have restricted voting in the presidential election to the premises of the Russian embassy in Chisinau only. He then pointed out that the Moldovan Foreign Ministry said it was unacceptable to open polling stations in Transnistria.

The Federation Council, or upper house of Russia’s parliament, designated March 17, 2024 as the date of the presidential election. The CEC then announced that voting will take place over three days, from March 15 through 17, making it Russia’s first three-day presidential election.