The National Council of War Veterans intend to mount a protest in central Chisinau on May 17. The veterans called upon the local public authorities to take attitude and help the veterans and other categories of people to travel to the capital city on May 17 and urged the people of good faith to help the protesters with units of transport, protective equipment and food.
In a news conference at IPN, veteran Constantin Covrig said the veterans will protest because the “mafia” should leave, the justice system should do it job and the people should live in dignity and enjoy justice. “During 30 years of independence, the governments made different promises, but we ultimately have the same country without a developed economy, which is fully corrupt, with a population forced to go to work abroad, with complete poverty and misery. We, the veterans of the Nistru war, the Afghanistan war and other post-Soviet wars, are one of the most vulnerable social sections,” stated Constantin Covrig.
According to him, the time of betrayals among politicians came together with peace after the Nistru war. Politicians betrayed the Moldovan people when they launched smuggling in astronomic quantities together with the bandits from Tiraspol, and those schemes are still applied. Unilateral concessions were made hiding behind the screen of the 5+2 format. The politicians also betrayed when they accepted to exempt the separatist enterprises from taxes and when they recognized the diplomas of study. During almost 30 years, the governments didn’t propose a Transnistrian conflict settlement plan and didn’t assume political responsibility for its implementation.
Constantin Covrig also said that the underground economy flourishes and hundreds of thousands of Moldovan citizens die in poverty and misery, in the absence of jobs and state support.
Valerii Sava, a veteran from Anenii-Noi, said he would not like the people not to be forced to leave the country. He called on the people to join in the protest so as to remove the “mafia” from power.
Veteran Vladimir Butnaru called upon the diaspora to talk to the parents and friends and to persuade them to come to the protest.
Victor Ciobanu from Chisinau urged the social sections to combine forces so as to free the country from oligarchs, criminal groups and impotent politicians who brought the country to economic failure and isolation from other countries.
The veterans requested the officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs not to violate their right to peaceful meetings and protests and not to obstruct the free movement of people.
The National Council of War Veterans was founded at the General Assembly of War Veterans on February 8, 2020. Then the veterans asked the authorities to provide monthly allowances of 3,000 lei to veterans, to parents who lost their children on the battlefield and to widows and orphan children. They also demanded to reduce the retirement age to 55 years, to ensure free medical insurance for life, to provide compensations and exemptions from paying for public utilities and in interurban transport and annual free treatment at sanatoriums. According to them, their attempt to discuss with the Prime Minister and other Government and Parliament functionaries failed.