Yesterday, 21 May, the director of the Dnister-Prut Center of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISS DPC), Sergei Mokshintsev arrived at Kishinev's airport where he was stopped by Moldova's border service agents. It was announced that he was banned from entering Moldova for five years.
The RISS DPC director was going to Pridnestrovie to participate in the ceremony of presenting awards to the Pridnestrovian children who had won the contests organised by the RISS DPC in cooperation with Pridnestrovie's Ministry of Education. The winners will be able to visit Russia's Orlyonok children centre and Serbia's Camp of Friendship.
«I was stopped at Kishinev's airport. They told me I was on their database and, consequently, I was banned to enter Moldova for five years. According to the Moldovan authorities, I am a threat to the national security of Moldova. As different from my previous visits when we were interrogated by SIB (Moldova's security service) officers and examined by other Moldovan services and agencies, there was nothing of the kind this time. They all referred to the computer database. Thanks to Russia's embassy and Aeroflot, I managed to leave Moldova by the same flight and safely returned to Moscow," said the centre director to a Novosti Pridnestrovya journalist.
According to Sergei Mokshantsev, this refusal is the evidence of further escalation in the relations between Moldova and Russia «in the light of preventing any Russia's representative from visiting Pridnestrovie.»
«I am personally affected because I was born in Bendery, and my parents still live in Pridnestrovie. Now I don't have any possibility not only to visit the republic, but also to see my relatives," said Mokshantsev.
He also underscored that the centre would continue and even enhance its work. «Over two years the RISS DPC has launched more than 40 social projects, aimed at providing assistance to the population of Moldova and Pridnestrovie, but we haven't been engaged in any political activity. We hope Moldova's leadership will change someday, and they will establish constructive cooperation with Pridnestrovie and Russia," concluded the RISS DPC director.
