BERLIN (AP) 鈥 Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen had an unusual encounter during an official visit to Moldova when the country鈥檚 first dog, a rescue belonging to Moldovan President Maia Sandu, bit him on the hand.
Video footage from Moldovan media showed van der Bellen standing with Sandu and Codrut, her rescue dog, during his visit to the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, on Friday. When the Austrian president leaned down to pet Codrut, the dog snapped and briefly bit his hand.
鈥淚t was a small wound that was treated with a bandage,鈥 van der Bellen鈥檚 office told the German news agency dpa, adding that the Austrian president 鈥渋s doing well.鈥
Van der Bellen was meeting with Sandu and Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar to discuss Moldova鈥檚 bid to join the European Union.
The Austrian president posted about the incident on his Instagram page later Friday, acknowledging it 鈥渃aused a bit of a stir.鈥
鈥淓veryone who knows me knows that I鈥檓 a big dog lover and can understand his excitement,鈥 van der Bellen said of Codrut the dog. 鈥淗e was nervous because of all the people around him.鈥
