After the signing of the Association Agreement between the EU and Moldova, the foreign press started to enquire about the economic potential and history of Moldova. Ukraine and Moldova make effort to develop a closer relationship with the EU, but only Moldova achieved this desideratum, in Brussels. Russia riposted by imposing bans on the Moldovan wine products, journalist Stephen Sackura wrote for BBC, IPN reports.

According to the British journalist, it is felt that Moldova has been neglected by the European states though it is situated on the same continent. Except its capital, Moldova has a rudimentary aspect, as 100 years ago. “The roads are a calvary shaking the bones. Horses pull carts loaded with products and people… While the horrors of an ugly conflict concentrated the world attention on the neighboring state Ukraine, the rural population of Moldova is more concerned about the community and how to reap the harvest,” said Stephen Sackura.

He also said that the rural economy of Moldova is built on small farms. The work is hard and the economic productivity is low and this aspect is felt after the collapse of the USSSR and the country’s effort to turn from a Soviet republic into an independent nation.

However, it is remarkable that though it was an ‘isolated nation’, Moldova is a world leader by wine exports. “The Moldovan wine producers propel the national economy. At least they did it, but last year their sales decreased and the reason wasn’t the weather or soil, but Moscow,” wrote the journalist.

After visiting the wine company Cricova, Stephen Sackura said the Russians have always had a predisposition to the Moldovan wine, from the tsars to the Soviet commissars. “The winery is proud of its hectares of carefully grown vineyards, but the real splendor of Cricova is in its basements,” said the journalist.

Stephen Sackura saw the precious collections kept in the cellars of Cricova, including those of Herman Goering that were taken by the Soviet Army from Berlin in 1945, and that held by Vladimir Putin.

Cricova marketing director Alexei Alexeev told the British journalist that the relationship between the winery and Putin started to worsen after the authorities could not reach a compromise. As a punishment for Moldova because it does not want to join the Eurasian Union, Russia banned the import of Moldovan wine.