CHISINAU, March 19. /TASS/. Moldova’s Foreign Ministry doesn’t want to see Russia’s delegation at the session of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Chisinau, Russian Ambassador to Moldova Oleg Vasnetsov told TASS.

"We have been notified about the unwillingness to see Russia’s delegation at the FAO session to be held in Chisinau in May. It is organized by the Moldovan Foreign Ministry. They suggested that the Russian delegation take part remotely," he said.

Chisinau will host the 34th FAO session in May. It will be attended by European and Central Asian FAO members, as well as delegates from various UN funds, programs and specialized agencies.

Earlier in the day, the Moldovan Foreign Ministry protested to the Russian ambassador in connection with voting in the Russian presidential election organized in Transnistria and the expulsion of a Russian embassy employee. In turn, Vasnetsov said that the Russian embassy, the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) and the Russian Foreign Ministry had received a large number of requests from Russian nationals residing in Transnistria asking that they be given the opportunity to take part in the Russian presidential election. He stressed that this is the duty of every diplomatic mission to defend its compatriots’ rights and interests.

Last August, Moldova expelled 45 staffers of the Russian embassy in order to reduce its personnel to the number of the Moldovan representatives in Moscow - 10 diplomatic staff and 15 support and technical personnel. The expulsion of diplomats was preceded by a number of publications in the media and on social networks, where Russian diplomats were accused of espionage.