14 Feb 2019 12:15

Moldovan president not to relieve ambassador to Russia of duties

CHISINAU. Feb 14 (Interfax) - Moldovan President Igor Dodon will not sign an executive order to relieve Andrei Neguta of his duties as the Moldovan ambassador to Russia, the presidential press service told Interfax.

"We are aware of the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration regarding the removal of Andrei Neguta from the position of ambassador in Moscow. We hope the government will not make this decision. But if it does, the president will not sign an executive order to this effect," the press service said.

"It is the exclusive right of the president to appoint and dismiss ambassadors, and this cannot be circumvented," it said.

The Moldovan Foreign Ministry asked the government on Wednesday evening to remove Neguta from office but gave no reasons for its request. Ministry press secretary Alexander Roitman urged the press not to link the decision to the situation of Moldovan pilots Lionel Buruiana and Mihai Crihan, who were freed from captivity in Afghanistan and are now in Moscow.

Sources in the Foreign Ministry told Interfax that the ambassador's allowance of an official mission of Transdniestria in Moscow to be opened, without condemning such action, was the reason for the decision.