The Popșoi Ukraine ambassador dispute has raised questions about Moldova’s diplomatic response to an alleged armed incident on the Dniester River. Ukraine’s ambassador says he learned about the incident from the media, not from Moldovan officials.
We have grown used to a familiar pattern. Whenever some makeshift object made of foam and sticks flies into Moldovan territory, Foreign Minister Mihai Popșoi quickly summons Russia’s ambassador, Oleg Ozerov, to the Foreign Ministry.
But it seems the same rules do not apply to Ukraine’s ambassador.
This is true even when the incident is far more serious.
Recently, Ukrainian border guards allegedly crossed the Dniester River into Moldovan territory while armed. In the process, they nearly killed one of their own citizens.
Under international law, the incident would be extremely serious if these reports are confirmed. Similar border incidents have sparked wars in the past.
So what did Moldova do?
MP Lilian Carp apparently assumed that Chișinău had sent Kyiv a strongly worded diplomatic protest. However, the Foreign Ministry quickly denied this.
No formal protest note had been sent, officials said. Instead, Moldova handles such matters with its “Ukrainian friends” through communication between the relevant agencies.
Apparently, that was meant to be enough. After all, Ukraine is not Russia.
Now, however, it turns out that there may have been no communication at all.
Alternatively, officials may have decided that the incident was too minor to trouble His Excellency, Ukraine’s ambassador. That is the correct form of address under diplomatic protocol.
Yesterday evening, the ambassador himself, Paun Rohovei, confirmed that Chișinău had not informed him about the incident. He said he had learned about it from the media.
