Moldova cuts Russian Embassy staff after spying allegations

Moldova's Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that it would slash the number of Russian diplomats accredited in the country.

As a result of the decision, Russia's diplomatic corps in the capital Chisinau will be reduced from 40 diplomats and a similar number of technical staffers to just 10 diplomats and 15 administrative, technical and service staff members. Most will have to leave the country by the middle of August.

The Moldovan Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the decision came "as a result of numerous unfriendly actions towards the Republic of Moldova which are not related to the diplomatic mandate," and noted that several attempts had been made to destabilize the situation in the country.

The decision to expel embassy staff comes on the back of media reports that the Russian Embassy in Chisinau is in fact a major spy hub on NATO's eastern flank that has been used to spy on Moldovan politicians and carry out cyberattacks. It came a day after the Moldovan Foreign Ministry summoned Russian ambassador Oleg Vasnetsov to explain the allegations.

The Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet republic, is a small, landlocked country in eastern Europe sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania.

Its pro-EU government has been vocal in its criticism of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and has repeatedly accused Moscow of meddling in its affairs. Moldova has long feared becoming the next target of Russia's aggression and has recently faced increasingly open, serious military threats from Moscow.

According to investigative research conducted by media outlet The Insider and television channel Jurnal TV, the Russian Federation installed on the roof of its embassy in Chisinau antennas that are capable of intercepting all kinds of signals.

The research team identified no less than 28 pieces of relevant equipment on the roof of the embassy's two buildings — that's twice the amount that Russia has on the roof of its mission in Brussels, which is home to several institutions of the European Union and NATO headquarters.

According to experts consulted by the investigative team working on the story, the antennas in question can gather sensitive information relating to national security and constitute a very real threat.

Russia's technical espionage network in Chisinau has grown considerably in recent years, particularly since 2015. According to the recent media reports, the sophisticated system of receivers at the embassy is operated by the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service, and the SVR, Russia's foreign intelligence service.

The allegation is that the system can receive satellite communications and is connected to special equipment within the embassy that can be used to launch cyberattacks on government networks.

The media reports specifically identified two people: Andrey Lenev, who was accredited as second secretary at the Russian Embassy in Chisinau in 2016, and Igor Bakulin, who started work as a member of technical staff there three months later.

According to the investigative journalists, the two are in fact GRU officers and were tasked with collecting data — mostly of a military nature — from government networks and fiber-optic cables, while the SVR group was charged with installing equipment and carrying out cyberattacks by infiltrating wi-fi networks.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu said that by reducing the number of accredited Russian diplomats, "there will be fewer individuals who are trying to destabilize the situation in our country."

He went on to say that "for many years — or even decades — we have been witnesses to and the target of Russia's hostility. Several of these actions were carried out through the embassy of the Russian Federation in Chisinau." According to Popescu, it is important that the diplomatic services focus on developing good relations and not on destabilizing measures that are not part of the diplomatic service.

Russia's response was prompt. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova threatened that Chisinau's decision to slash the number of embassy staff would "not go unanswered" and dismissed the media reports that triggered the move as "a fantasy that has nothing to do with reality."

Russian ambassador Oleg Vasnetsov said on Wednesday that the antennas on the embassy roof were old and "rusty," and warned that "those who make such decisions must understand what consequences it will have."

Vasnetsov accused Moldovan authorities of outright "Russophobia" and pledged radical measures in response. "Under the new conditions, we will find an opportunity to rebuild the severely damaged relations between the two peoples and countries," he said.

Moldova's decision to cut Russia's embassy staff is in line with Article 11 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which states that "in the absence of specific agreement as to the size of the mission, the receiving State may require that the size of a mission be kept within limits considered by it to be reasonable and normal, having regard to circumstances and conditions in the receiving State."

The convention goes on to state that "The receiving State may equally, within similar bounds and on a non-discriminatory basis, refuse to accept officials of a particular category."

At the end of June, Moldova's neighbor Romania, which is a member of both the EU and NATO, expelled 40 diplomats from the Russian Embassy in Bucharest.

This article was adapted from the German by Aingeal Flanagan.