MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it had summoned Moldova’s ambassador to Moscow and had strongly protested to him over the decision by Moldova’s government to declare Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin persona non grata.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Moldovan Foreign Ministry accused Rogozin, Russia’s special representative to Moldova’s pro-Russian breakaway Transdniestria region, of making defamatory remarks about a Moldovan governmental delegation in an interview with a Russian television channel.

Declaring Rogozin persona non grata is one of “Chisinau’s irresponsible steps aimed at a deliberate undermining of bilateral Russian-Moldovan relations”, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.