The Republic of Moldova has solid reasons to align itself with the EU’s sanctions against the Russian Federation to a greater extent, considers Mihai Mogîldea, vice director of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms. In a public debate hosted by IPN, he said that Russia during the past few months has shown that it adopted an aggressive approach towards the Republic of Moldova.
“The objective set by the Russian Federation is to destabilize the internal situation and to replace the government in Chisinau by protests financed by the Russian Federation, this buffoonery that is orchestrated from the Kremlin, through the statements made by spokeswoman Zakharova rather often, which affect the Republic of Moldova and the government’s work. Definitely, all these elements were taken into account by the current government when it was noted that the Republic of Moldova could subscribe to more packages of sanctions. I believe the effects of this alignment will not be overwhelming for the Russian Federation, but they are aimed at showing solidarity with the EU countries and with Ukraine,” stated Mihai Mogîldea.
He noted that besides the risks that Moldova is to assume following the alignment with the EU’s sanctions, there are also benefits from this exercise. First of all, Moldova will be highly appreciated at international level for its readiness to assume the risks associated with these sanctions. The risks coming from Russia are predictable and can include bans for business entities, mirror sanctions for Moldova and expulsions of representatives of Moldova’s diplomatic corps in Moscow.
The expert added that after the war in Ukraine is over, the European countries, including Moldova, will continue importing energy resources from other states besides Russia.
“We should not forget that the EU countries were an important export market for Russia. Following the imposition of sanctions, the Russian Federation had to reorient its exports to the Asian states, primarily India and China that are now the main markets for Russian products. There is now a ban on the import on coal into the European states and there is also a ban on the import of oil that will gradually materialize. This means the EU member states are also in a period of transition to the new import regime. Except for Hungary that further banks on the import of Russian gas, the other European countries already oriented themselves to other import markets and this means that the breaking of this energy tie between the EU and the Russian market will become a permanent reality in the post-war period,” stated Mihai Mogîldea.
He noted that the effects of the EU’s sanctions against Russia started to be rapidly felt and struck many areas of activity that affected the life of ordinary Russian.
“The EU’s sanctions target both public and private legal entities and individuals. Currently, the EU has a sanctions list that includes 1,473 individuals who are close to the Kremlin and who openly promote this aggressive and conquering policy with regard to Ukraine. Their goal is to gradually push the Russian Federation towards a more difficult economic, energy and political situation. The sanctions introduced in the transport sector are very important. The facilitated visa regime from which the citizens of the Russian Federation benefitted is no longer in force. The EU countries can individually examine the applications for visas from citizens of the Russian Federation and decide whether to grant a visa or not. The airspace of the European Union cannot be crossed by Russian companies. This implies higher costs for those airlines. The banking sector of the Russian Federation was seriously affected. By different channels, both the banks and other funds of the Russian Federation were affected. So, the effects of sanctions are visible,” said the expert.
The public debate entitled “Alignment with EU sanctions against Russia: reasons and risks” was the 277th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
