Kremlin: Moldova “took over the bacillus of Ukraine” in terms of nominal membership in the CIS

Moldova “took over the bacillus of Ukraine” in terms of nominal membership in the CIS, said the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.

“For some reason, Moldova believes that this is contrary to its interests; for some reason, Moldova has taken over Ukraine’s “either-or” bacillus. A reasonable person does “both-and,” and they do “either-or,” he told reporters.

The Kremlin representative was also asked to comment on the image of the Ukrainian flag on the CIS badge of honor.

“De jure, Ukraine is a member of the CIS, and accordingly, the Ukrainian flag is there. It’s still an international organization,” he replied.

Earlier on October 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a number of countries that are part of the CIS do not participate in this format. Moldova, the president believes, is practically “losing its identity”; the elites of the republic call themselves Romanians, but this is “their choice”; only the people of the country itself can interfere.

Ukraine, the president noted, signed the fundamental documents on the CIS, but did not ratify these documents and never joined in full format. Thus, Kyiv initially, Putin emphasized, avoided full-scale cooperation.

At the beginning of October Russia banned entry into the country for the Chairman of the Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting of Moldova, Liliana Vitsu, and journalist Mikhail Sirkeli. Vitsu and Sirkeli, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, are involved in restrictions on the rights of Russian journalists in the republic. On September 13, the head of Sputnik Moldova, Vitaly Denisov, was expelled from Moldova. After this, the Foreign Ministry declared a strong protest in connection with “the ongoing politically motivated persecution of Russian-language media” in the republic.