In Moldova, the process of obtaining vaccines against COVID-19 is irresponsible and is often used by politicians in a cynical way to improve their rating. “In the country, there is a person who does not hold any official post in the state, but this says publicly that the appearance of a particular vaccine in the Republic of Moldova depends on him. This way, Igor Dodon tries to give the impression that the human lives in the Republic of Moldova depend on him,” expert in international relations and security Valeriu Ostalep, ex-deputy minister of foreign affairs, stated in IPN’s public debate “Coexistence”, “war” or “diplomacy” of vaccines in the world? Impact on Moldova”.
The expert noted he expects the Russian Federation to announce discussions on the possibility of delivering the vaccine with the Moldovan authorities. “The Russian Federation should dissociate itself from Igor Dodon’s methods of political swindle – he knows when doses of Sputnik V vaccine will be delivered to the Republic of Moldova, how many doses will be brought. This happens also because the power in the Republic of Moldova is in the hands of the Socialists – they have a parliamentary majority and a government,” stated Valeriu Ostalep.
He also criticized the way in which the Moldovan authorities have fought the COVID-19 pandemic as they were unable to build a hospital during a year, but imposed a number of restrictions on the ordinary people.
The first reflex of the countries, since the start of the pandemic, was to isolate themselves, not to show solidarity. The most developed states made progress in inventing COVID-19 vaccines and, practically from the start, special services were engaged, especially the Intelligence Service of Israel, and these started to purchase from abroad different new technologies for fighting the pandemic. This confirms that these states are selfish as each of them through about an individual approach first of all. Such large states as the U.S., Russia, the UK, Canada, besides beginning to produce, started to order vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 in quantities that are five to ten times larger than their population. The preparations for the mass vaccination of the population in the large and developed states started a year ago.
Valeriu Ostalep said that after a year, the political contradictions between the big players of the world worsened. “There is now an unprecedented deterioration in the relationship between Russia and the EU as organizations, but the relations between Russia and the EU member states intensified on the vaccination segment. There is massive involvement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in the promotion of the COVID-19 vaccine in different corners of the world, to the detriment of the solidary interests. The bilateral discussions on economic issues between the suppliers and beneficiaries of vaccines are used as instruments for solving other problems. At the same time, the Republic of Moldova, which has so many strategic partners, is unable to obtain at least a small number of doses of vaccines, either purchased or donated. Instead, Israel since April 18 has partially returned to the life before the pandemic, without restrictions, as the largest part of the population was vaccinated,” stated the expert.
The public debate “Coexistence”, “war” or “diplomacy” of vaccines in the world? Impact on Moldova” is the 181st installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is implemented with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
