The Minister of Economy and Infrastructure, Vadim Brînzan, argues that the quotas of the Russian Federation's export permits for the Moldovan producers were established at the insistence of the Moldovan side. According to him, these quotas were introduced in 2015, during the rule of the Democratic Party. The minister explained that at the time a black market was created where until recently permits were sold to farmers for up to five thousand euros. Until 2015, there was a liberalized export regime and both the Moldovan and Russian sides had no limits on the goods export permits. The statements were made on the program "Politics of Natalia Morari" on TV8, IPN reports.

Vadim Brînzan says that this is a well-organized scheme which brought in huge amounts of money. "In order to take the goods from the hill from us, apples for instance, and export them to the Russian Federation, you must hire a transport company. Earlier this company could go to Russia freely, as no permit was required. Since 2015, these limits have been set, permit quotas, which are actually stamped papers we receive from the Russian Federation. This year, they gave us 15 thousand permits, while we gave them 10 thousand”, explained the minister.

According to him, when these permits for exporting goods to the Russian Federation were introduced, they started to be sold to farmers and the money went into the pockets of people from the former government. "The National Auto Haulers Association gave them these permits, some took more than they needed, after which a black market was created where permits were sold. The price sometimes reached five thousand euros per item, just for a sheet of paper, that was artificially created," said Vadim Brînzan.

The minister maintains he learned about this issue at a recent meeting with Russian officials, who informed him that this permit quota was introduced at the insistence of the Moldovan side. He notes that he found the December 2015 document confirming that Moldovan officials have requested this. Vadim Brînzan says that the document was signed by a then deputy minister of transport.

Vadim Brînzan announces that this black market for permit trading has now been closed down.

Recently, some of the Moldovan haulers have been protesting against the fact that export permits have ended when the export season of agricultural produce is in full swing.