CHISINAU, February 2. /TASS/. Moldovan President Maia Sandu is deliberately creating obstacles in the organization of the Russian presidential election on the territory of the country in order to please 'Western curators,' former Moldovan President and leader of the opposition Party of Socialists Igor Dodon said.

"I don't think that Maia Sandu is being asked to do this by Washington or Brussels. Europe has no problem opening polling stations for the Russian presidential election. <...> I think Sandu wants to please her Western curators so much that she is trying to create a problem here as well," Dodon said in a video statement posted on his Telegram channel.

Russia requested last November that polling stations for the Russian presidential election be opened in Moldova, where more than 200,000 Russian citizens live. Moldovan Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Zakharov said recently that "this issue is being studied and a response will be given within a reasonable time frame." However, Moldova's new foreign minister, Mihai Popsoi, appointed last week, pointed out that Chisinau could not interfere with the opening of a polling station on the territory of the Russian embassy, but would not allow it to appear in the unrecognized Transnistria.

During Russia's presidential election in March 2018, 27 polling stations were opened in Moldova. Three of them were located on the territory of Moldova, and another 24 were located on the territory of Transnistria, where most Russian citizens live.