​FOREIGN MINISTER ULIANOVSCHI REPRESENTING MOLDOVA AT UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION

At the ceremony of Ukrainian President inauguration taking place in Kiev on Monday the Republic of Moldova is being represented by Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Tudor Ulianovschi.

The ministerial press service reported in this connection that the office of the Moldovan Prime Minister had received from Kiev an official invitation to come and take part in the inauguration of new President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelenskii, but “due to health problems, Prime Minister Pavel Filip cannot go and attend the ceremony. So, the Republic of Moldova is being represented by Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Tudor Ulianovschi”.

Last week, Moldovan experts were offering suppositions that the inauguration ceremony might be attended by President Igor Dodon, who seeks to establish relations with the new President of Ukraine. Also last week, Igor Dodon announced he had held a telephone conversation with President-Elect Vladimir Zelenskii.

Earlier, Dodon sought to meet with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, but in the course of the two and a half years of Dodon’s office, they had not met. Poroshenko has held many meetings with Moldova’s Premier and Parliament Speaker, but refused to shake hands with Dodon because during his presidential campaign in the autumn of 2016, Dodon stated on the local television that “the Crimea belongs to Russia”.

Igor Dodon was among the first to have congratulated Vladimir Zelenskii on his electoral victory. Observers pointed out that in his congratulatory telegram, Dodon several times addressed to Zelenskii as “Your Excellency”. At the same time, Ukrainian experts subjected Zelenskii to sharp criticism for his talk with Dodon. They believe any contacts with the Moldovan President are impermissible until Dodon has brought official apologies.