The Moldovan political elite is reacting appropriately to the situation in Ukraine, thinks political pundit Igor Boțan.
“No one knows what happens next. And so our politicians have adopted a very prudent behavior. This prudence made all the MPs attending Thursday’s meeting in Parliament to vote for the introduction of a state of emergency”, said Boțan during an IPN debate.
“Neither the government nor the opposition know what to expect. And it’s understandable. The Russian Federation does not acknowledge that it has started a war against Ukraine. The Russian authorities claim it is a military operation in the Donbas. But some 80 military infrastructure targets across Ukraine were shelled. Now Russian troops are attacking the city of Kyiv”, Igor Boțan explained.
International opinion is unfavorable to Moscow. “Russia has entered into international isolation. I do not think that the Russian authorities do not understand what this isolation means to the Russian Federation. Will Russia still have the resources after, say, occupying Ukraine, to manage the situation there? How? By whom? The answers to these questions are unknown at this time. It is this uncertainty that makes the entire political class in Moldova to be very cautious, to put aside misunderstandings, to show unity and show that they are rational in this critical situation”, said Igor Boțan.
The first casualty of any war is the truth. “There is a strategy to destabilize the states of the former Soviet republics. It has even been made public. And it is being applied now. People are scared - will they be able to withdraw money from the card to the banks, will there be food, will electricity and gas supply be disrupted? And so on and so forth”, said Igor Boțan, adding: “We need to have a clear code of conduct for everyone in such difficult situations”.
“If you go into panic mode, dysfunctions may happen. When people panic, they act irrationally,” said the expert, referring to the wide range of problems facing the Republic of Moldova in the state of emergency introduced yesterday for the next 60 days. “Yesterday, during the sitting of Parliament, lawmakers asked questions about what this state of emergency would mean exactly. But the Speaker decided that debates and clarifications are not suitable, given that all efforts by the authorities must be focused on helping refugees, the number of whom has now reached almost 16,000 people”, said Igor Boțan.
Prevederile deciziei de ieri a Comisiei pentru Situații Excepționale a Republicii Moldova sunt mai mult sau mai puțin clare, dar, în opinia expertului, ele trebuie totuși explicate. „Restricțiile care se impun asupra agenților economici, îi vizează doar pe agenții economici – instituții publice sau și pe agenții economici privați? Nu am auzit răspunsul la această întrebare abordată în Parlament. Există multe semne de întrebare și clarificările trebuie cerute de la guvernanți”, a remarcat Igor Boțan. The provisions of yesterday’s decision of the Commission for Emergencies are more or less clear, but, in the expert’s opinion, they need further clarification. “Do the restrictions imposed on economic operators only apply to state-owned ones or to private businesses as well? I have not heard the answer to this question addressed in Parliament. There are many question marks and clarifications must be requested from the government”, said Igor Boțan.
The debate on Moldova’s position to the situation in Ukraine was the 226th installment of the “Developing Political Culture” Series, run by IPN with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
