Russia in time tried to keep the Republic of Moldova in its sphere of influence by creating pro-Kremlin parties, through economic and energy blackmail, the leader of the Party of Change Ștefan Gligor stated in a public debate hosted by IPN. According to him, after the outbreak of the war, the bilateral relations between Chisinau and Moscow almost disappeared. The gas supplied by Russia to the Transnistrian region to this way artificially maintain the separatist enclave on the left side of the Nistru is the only bridge between the two states.
The politician noted that Russia de facto never respected the Independence of the Republic of Moldova. It always tried to prevent Moldova from coming closer to the EU and to keep it in its sphere of influence. To achieve its objectives, Russia used political, economic and energy blackmail.
“The main objection the Republic of Moldova should have towards the Russian Federation is that Russia, instead of respecting the Independence, sovereignty of the state, uses the economic weaknesses of the Republic of Moldova to influence the internal and external policy. In time, the Russian Federation did this through several instruments. It first of all created political parties that represent Russia in the Republic of Moldova. Initially, it was the Party of Communists. Later, it was the Party of Socialists and now it is the Șor Party. The Russian propaganda presents these parties as strategic partnership parties in the Republic of Moldova. Besides the fact that Russia designs, develops and finances political parties in the Republic of Moldova, it also applies economic instruments here. They started with the ban of 2006 and continued with sanitary pretexts to block a number of goods. Furthermore, Russia insists on the energy instrument. The Republic of Moldova, being a volatile and weak economy, is very exposed to the energy factor,” stated Ștefan Gligor.
According to the leader of the Party of Change, the relations between the two states worsened considerably after the pro-European party PAS took over. Even if it is in hostile relations with Chisinau, Russia continues to supply gas gratis to the left side of the Nistru so as to maintain the viability of the separatist region.
Ștefan Gligor noted that Moscow’s rhetoric about the government’s intention to engage Moldova in war is an element of the information war. Amidst the war of aggression on the border, the PAS government and President Maia Sandu manage to keep peace and stability in Moldova.
“It is evident that Ukraine has now military necessities that can be satisfied with armament from the ammunition depot in Cobasna. There are 20,000 tonnes of munitions there. A part of them are old, but there are also weapons that are very important to Ukraine. In April-May 2022, unofficial attempts were made to reach an agreement to remove the Russian army from the left side of the Nistru. As far as I realize, the current government did its best for things not to degenerate into such a scenario. Ukraine keeps three motorized brigades with 12,000-14,000 persons on the border with the Republic of Moldova as our country does not control its territory and poses a security risk to Ukraine. Today, the policy of PAS and President Sandu is to keep peace even if a series of preconditions for reintegration now seem to exist,” said the politician.
The public debate entitled “Moldovan-Russian relations amidst war” was the 280th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
