MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. Russia’s foreign ministry strongly recommends Russian nationals refrain from trips to Moldova amid what it called numerous cases of discrimination against Russian citizens in that country.

"Moscow continues to record numerous episodes of discrimination, ungrounded harassment and undue treatment of Russian citizens in Moldova by the Moldovan authorities," the ministry said.

The ministry "strongly recommend that Russian citizens take these risks into account and refrain from traveling to Moldova."

According to the Russian foreign ministry, Moldova’s authorities are hampering consular access to Russian nationals. "Relevant requests from the Russian diplomatic mission are ignored. That means that offering consular services is practically impossible."

The ministry warned that upon arrival in Chisinau’s airport, holders of Russian passports "are regularly subjected to humiliating searches and checks." Moreover, they often have to spend hours in the transit zone, being deprived of basic services.

"In some cases, Russian citizens spent more than two days at the airport. Oftentimes they were subsequently banned from entering the country under invented pretexts. Cases of arbitrary application of laws, detention at the border, and criminal prosecution without compelling evidence have also been reported. On departing from Chisinau, passengers are subjected to deliberately protracted security checks so that they miss their flights," the ministry added.