Moldova’s ‘first dog’ nips Austrian president on the hand during official visit

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen (Markus Schreiber/AP)

Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen had an unusual encounter during an official visit to Moldova when the country’s “first dog”, a rescue belonging to Moldovan President Maia Sandu, bit him on the hand.

Video footage from Moldovan media showed Mr van der Bellen standing with Ms Sandu and Codrut, her rescue dog, during his visit to the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, on Friday.