The authorities of the Republic of Moldova should have not only a list with response measures, but should also have a proactive view for all the areas, including for the Transnistrian settlement, the reorientation of exports and energy security, ex-Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Gheorghe Bălan, expert in security issues, said in a public debate hosted by IPN News Agency.
The expert noted the authorities should compile a list with the first response steps and actions that must be taken at different levels, a stagey, but not only in reaction. The Moldovan authorities should think up a proactive view. It is now clear that Moldova can be only on the side of Ukraine and should support the position of the EU member states as it is normal to do this when the aggressor state Russia continues to violate agreement after agreement.
Gheorghe Bălan said that Moldova avoided the war due to Ukraine’s resistance, but was affected by inflows of migrants and by economic interaction ruptures. Russia didn’t respect any agreement providing security guarantees to Moldova and did it similarly with regard to Ukraine, even if it was the state that pledged to ensure the security of Ukraine.
“In this case, this agreement wouldn’t have protected us and the Russian Federation wouldn’t have devoted attention to the bilateral agreements as we saw that it broke them in Ukraine. At the same time, we have that military presence on our territory, which is under foreign occupation, and when we speak about the Russian embassy, this has coordinated and also maintained and contributed to keeping that regime in the Transnistrian region,” he stated.
According to Gheorghe Bălan, the actions taken by the Moldovan authorities, the interaction with Ukraine and the support offered to Ukraine are logical and normal steps, especially because the Republic of Moldova chose the European integration as its foreign course and all the member states of the European Union support the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine. The Republic of Moldova acted correctly when it decided to support these absolutely normal things.
As to other risks that can appear in the future, in response to the diplomatic parity decision with regard to Russia, Gheorghe Bălan said Russia could try to exert additional pressure and to even diminish the number of employees at Moldova’s Embassy in Moscow, but the same decisions will be automatically taken by the Moldovan authorities with regard to the Russian diplomats in Chisinau.
The public debate entitled “Diplomatic parity and its price” was the 287th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
