Ammon News - The dog of the Moldovan president, Maia Sandu, has overturned protocol by biting the visiting Austrian president, Alexander Van der Bellen, on the hand.

The incident occurred on Thursday when the two leaders were strolling in the courtyard of the Moldovan presidential residence in the capital, Chișinău, and Van der Bellen tried to pet the dog, Moldovan media reported.

Sandu apologised in English and said the dog, a rescue named Codrut, meaning small forest, had become frightened by the large numbers of people nearby. At Van der Bellen’s next meeting, with the speaker of Moldova’s parliament, the Austrian president appeared with his hand bandaged.

In a video posted to Instagram on Friday, Van der Bellen sympathised with the dog. “Everyone who knows me knows I’m a big dog lover and can understand his excitement,” he wrote, adding that his meeting with Sandu and other officials had been “very good”.

Van der Bellen said he had given the dog a small toy on the last day of his visit.

The talks in Chișinău, attended by Van der Bellen and the president of Slovenia, Nataša Pirc Musar, focused on the bid by Moldova, which lies between Ukraine and Romania, to join the EU.

Sandu, who rescued the dog after it was hit by a car, posted pictures on social media of her pet with the two presidents.

The Guardian