CHISINAU, August 2. /TASS/. Moldova’s President Igor Dodon has denounced the decision made by the country’s government declaring Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin persona non grata. "For us, this is an act of a great political foolishness," the Moldovan leader said in a Facebook post on Wednesday. "Today, Moldova was involved in a diplomatic and geopolitical conflict that is exceptional for the last quarter-century."

He supposed that the West might be behind it. "I don’t know if it is the government’s independent decision. This is rather influence from overseas," the president noted. He pinned the blame for spoilt relations with Russia on Moldova’s ruling Democratic Party. According to Dodon, this political force will do anything to disrupt the restoration of relations with Moscow that he is striving for.