Relations between Moscow and Chisinau are destabilizing

The authorities of Moldova and Russia have moved to a public showdown. On April 28, the Russian ambassador to Moldova, Oleg Vasnetsov, was summoned to the country’s Foreign Ministry to “give explanations about the statements” of Russian officials regarding the republic, according to the department’s Telegram channel. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration will not comment on the absolutely unacceptable language of the statements of some Russian officials stated today,” the message says.

The correspondence skirmish between representatives of Moscow and Chisinau of recent days began with harsh statements by the Prime Minister of Moldova, Dorin Recean, on April 27. In particular, he announced that a rather “long list” of high-ranking Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin, was banned from entering the country, and in his republic they would be fined for wearing a St. George ribbon on May 9 Victory Day.

After that, on April 28, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, in turn, sharply commented on the words of the Moldovan Prime Minister in his Telegram channel.

“A mysterious creature named Recean said that neither the President of Russia nor Russian officials will be able to enter his country – Moldova. Well, firstly, no one is going there now. Maybe later… And, secondly, there is no such country anymore. Local chiefs sold it to Romania,” Medvedev wrote. In his opinion, it makes no sense for Moscow to conduct a dialogue with the Moldovan authorities. At the same time, Medvedev has an understanding that they “will respect the sovereignty of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.”

Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, commenting on Medvedev’s post during a briefing, recalled that in March a law was adopted in Moldova to rename the Moldovan language into Romanian.

“We see this one, too, a drift towards absorption by Romania,” Peskov said. In addition, the Kremlin believes that Moldova is “rapidly drifting towards the very well-known Russophobia,” which, according to Peskov, may be associated with the desire for European integration and does not correlate with the mood in society.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, in her turn, criticized the civil mission of the European Union in Moldova (EUPM Moldova) announced on April 24, which, in her opinion, will actually exercise external control. The official goal of the mission is “to increase the resilience of the country’s security sector in the field of crisis management and hybrid threats, including cybersecurity, as well as countering attempts to manipulate information.” The stated term of its work is two years.

But Brussels’ support for the country-candidate for association is not limited to this: on April 28, the Council for Foreign Affairs of the European Union approved a new aid package of €40 million to strengthen the National Army of Moldova.

At the same time, Chisinau continues to break ties with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). State Secretary of the Moldovan government Artur Mizha said on April 28 that his country plans to terminate many agreements with this organization in the near future. On the same day, the Moldovan parliament approved in the first reading a resolution on withdrawing from the agreements on the operation of the Mir television and radio company, TASS reports.

Prior to this, on April 17, the Moldovan authorities demonstrated in practice that they are not afraid to go into open conflict with official representatives from Russia, not allowing the head of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, who was flying to the Gagauz autonomy, to get off the plane in Chisinau. As Rechan later stated, the visit of the Russian delegation was undesirable and, according to Chisinau, could influence the results of the elections for the head of the region, which will be held on April 30. Moreover, the Moldovan Foreign Ministry decided to expel the Russian diplomat who met Minnikhanov at the airport in Chisinau.

The President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, is a citizen not only of Moldova, but also of Romania, like many of its members of parliament, including from the opposition, reminds Vadim Trukhachev, Associate Professor of the Faculty of International Relations and Foreign Regional Studies of the RSUH. Sandu’s global task is to tear Moldova away from Russia, he is sure, while the expert does not consider the President of Moldova to be a staunch supporter of unification with Romania. “Rather, Sandu is a convinced Atlanticist, a supporter of rapprochement with the EU and NATO at any cost,” says Trukhachev.

Chisinau’s drastic actions could not have been without influence from Romania, the expert admits, where many politicians openly advocate unification with Moldova (but not the country’s president and ethnic German Klaus Iohannis). Russian politicians in this situation behave “in accordance with the law of the genre,” Trukhachev believes.

Political scientist Andrei Suzdaltsev connects the current aggravation in relations with Moscow with “an attempt by the Moldovan authorities to build an image of a victim of Russian destabilization.” In his opinion, Moldova may know more than others about the plans for a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive, and therefore they cherish the hope of using this moment for their own purposes. It is possible that Chisinau’s list of hopes may also include an attempt to resolve the frozen conflict in Transnistria in its favor, Suzdaltsev admits.