By imposing bans and customs duties on Moldovan products, Russia aims to influence the results of the parliamentary elections and to replace the pro-European government, political analyst of the Jamestown Foundation and Eurasia Daily Monitor Vladimir Socor said in the program “Place for dialogue” on Radio Moldova station, IPN reports.
According to Socor, Russia wants to cause people’s dissatisfaction with the pro-European government of Moldova and banks on the political immaturity of some of the Moldovan voters.
The analyst said the imposition of bans and customs duties on products imported from Moldova represent punishment for Moldova’s decision to follow the path to the EU and shows that Russia always had unfriendly intentions and never wanted Moldova to prosper.
Vladimir Socor considers that the key solution for Moldova is to accelerate the integration into the EU as a result of which it will get money to improve the quality of products. Moldova could be invaded by Russian investors that would want to profit from the benefits of the DCFTA with the EU.
As to the situation in Ukraine, the analyst said it is a new-type Russian invasion that does not pose threats to Moldova. “Moldova is not threatened owing to its geographical position, on the one hand, and to the success archived by the Ukrainian authorities in the fight against insurgents, on the other hand. In Putin’s “Novorossia” project, the Odessa region is the main target, but the administration in Kiev managed to thwart their plans,” stated Socor.
