The Russian Federation continues to exert pressure on the Republic of Moldova and made a number of attempts to destabilize the situation and takes actions that seriously hit the citizens, Deputy Prime Minister Nicu Popescu, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, stated in a news conference.
Asked at what stage the discussions on the diplomatic parity between Moldova’s Embassy and Russia’s Embassy are, Nicu Popescu said that a number of states took measures the past few months to ensure diplomatic parity and adjust the number of diplomats at embassies to the new realities. “I would like to note that it is a standard situation when the small states and the large states have a different number of diplomats. As usual, the small states have smaller diplomatic missions, while the large states have larger diplomatic missions and, in the absence of parity, it is a standard situation in most of the interactions at foreign level. At the same time, we can ascertain that for any country, it is very important for the diplomats, when these are many in number, to work to improve the relations, not to worsen them. From this angle, we can say that the Republic of Moldova is advantaged by the fact that the friend states have more diplomats accredited to Chisinau. In our relationship with the EU, we demand that the diplomatic presence should be larger as this helps us to accelerate the process of joining the European Union,” stated Nicu Popescu.
He noted that Russia during the past 30 years has pursued hostile policies towards Moldova. Russia has supported separatism, illegally maintains its presence on Moldova’s territory and imposed bans for multiple times. “The efficiency of these diplomatic and often not really diplomatic efforts makes us to further analyze the necessity of such a large number of diplomats, if they facilitate or, on the contrary, hamper the diplomatic interactions between our countries,” said the Deputy Premier.
He also said that Moldova is considering a wider range of measures by which to limit the attempts to destabilize the situation in Moldova, which are often supported by Russia, including through cooperation with organized criminal groups, like the Shor grouping. The discussion about the number of Russian diplomats forms part of this broader analysis.
As regards the way in which Moldova takes care of its citizens in Russia, Nicu Popescu said that as in other states where there is a large diaspora, everything possible is done in Russia to ensure the consular services are available and there are social protection agreements. The bilateral relationship is affected by Russia’s hostile, unfriendly policies towards Moldova, including commercial restrictions, unfriendly and undiplomatic statements made by Russian politicians, militaries.
As to the tragic event that happened at the Chisinau airport and the security relations that are to be established with CIS states, Nicu Popescu said the state institutions need to further adjust their policies in a number of fields. They are considering measures to ensure greater clarity as regards the entry into Moldova and the leaving of the country, but more details will be provided later. “We want to make sure that our positive relations, these positive elements of cooperation are not affected by the denouncing of particular agreements signed earlier within the CIS,” stated the official.
