Ukraine is witnessing the worst disaster on the European continent since World War II, said expert of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul” Igor Munteanu. According to him, the war in Ukraine occurs because the Kremlin felt the lack of unity in the relations between the Western forces. If the international community’s sanctions after the annexation of Crimea had been much harsher, they would have managed to stop the expansionist ambitions of Moscow. For their part, mayors consider Moldova’s decision to follow the example of Georgia and Ukraine and to sign the application for EU membership is a step that would ensure Moldova’s safety and economic development in the future, IPN reports.
Moldova’s former ambassador to the U.S. Igor Munteanu said the harsher penalties imposed by the international community on Russia are aimed at stopping the military invasion of Ukraine, but these sanctions should have been imposed back in 2014. If the West had harsher penalized the annexation of Crimea, Vladimir Putin’s territorial pretensions would have been discouraged.
“The Russian Federation felt weaknesses and exploits them. When the Western officials said that none of their troops would enter Ukraine, this was perceived as a weakness. When Crimea was occupied, only economic sanctions were imposed and these weren’t so significant for the economy and society of the Russian Federation and the Russians felt that the West would not support Ukraine further than that. We now pay for particular mistakes. The last package of economic sanctions is very serious and is almost devastating for the Russian economy. The people should realize that these sanctions are imposed not to make the Russians’ life worse, but to stop the military machinery that now destroys lives and cities in Ukraine. Such a disaster on the European continent hasn’t been witnessed since World War II,” Igor Munteanu stated in the talk show “Good Evening” on the public TV channel.
In connection with the tense situation in Ukraine, the authorities in Kyiv, Chisinau and Tbilisi submitted applications to join the European Union so as to obtain the candidate status. Local elected officials said the people in Moldova voted strongly in favor of European integration at the last presidential and parliamentary elections and the government took this desideratum into account.
“We have European aspirations and therefor this step was awaited by the citizens. The people want to live in a civilized world and it is important that this message be clear to everyone. The messages transmitted by some of the political representatives of opposition parties come to destabilize the situation in our communities. This strep should have been taken earlier. The task of mayors is not only to rehabilitate infrastructure, but to also bring civilization to settlements,” said the mayor of Strășeni Valentina Casian.
On March 4, the Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to the EU Daniela Morari presented Moldova’s application to join the European Union to Ambassador Philippe Leglise-Costa, Permanent Representative of France to the EU. Currently, France is holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
