Moldovan president, Russian ambassador discuss plans for his visit to Moscow
CHISINAU. Jan 23 (Interfax) - Moldovan President Igor Dodon and Russian Ambassador in Chisinau Oleg Vasnetsov have discussed the details of his visit to Moscow next week.
"[We] discussed the details of my visit to the Russian Federation next week. A meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is planned as part of the working visit in order to discuss commercial and economic relations and the current situation surrounding the transit of Moldovan cargo via Ukraine among other things," Dodon said on his Facebook page.
He said he is "also planning to meet with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church." Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia was supposed to visit Moldova last October, but the visit was postponed for 2019 at the last minute.
According to Dodon, during the meeting with the Russian ambassador, the parties "exchanged views on the situation in the domestic and foreign policy and on bilateral relations." "[I] informed the Russian diplomat that I will not run in the parliamentary election, but focus my attention on the country's domestic and foreign activities instead," Dodon said.
He also told Vasnetsov that there are "some new circumstances of the current electoral campaign for the Moldovan parliament."
"The election is being held under the mixed electoral system; two seats in the parliament were granted to representatives of the Transdniestrian region; the number of polling stations for Moldovan citizens living in Moldova has increased. I also drew [the ambassador's] attention to the government's discriminatory behavior regarding the opening of polling stations abroad," Dodon said.