President Maya Sandu of Moldova stated before the Eastern Partnership Summit on Tuesday (December 14) that Moldova is eager to join the European Union, and the former Soviet republics have told Russia that this is its choice.
Her comment in an interview with Reuters is her most explicit public comment on Moldova’s pro-Western route. Since Moldova became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991, pro-Russian and pro-EU politicians have been vying for control.
Sandu’s reformist party won an overwhelming victory in parliament in July and was seen as a symbol of change in Moldova. In a country that was almost bankrupt due to local corruption six years ago, Sandu provided Brussels with foreign policy. Success.
But on the eve of the Eastern Partnership Summit with the leaders of the European Union and other Eastern European countries, including Ukraine, Sandu said that Russia is making life in Moldova difficult through higher natural gas prices. She said that the West also has a responsibility to help catch criminals who have stolen Moldovan funds and are at large in Europe.
“Moldova hopes to become a member of the European Union one day,” Sandu said, given Moldova’s dependence on Russian natural gas, since winning power at the end of 2020, he has refrained from explicitly mentioning the country’s direction.
“We hope to get there early,” she said in an interview at a hotel in Brussels.
When asked whether Russia would allow Moldova, which is located between Ukraine and EU member Romania, to join the European Union, Sandu said that she had told Russian officials that this G27 model is the model of her country.
Ukraine accused Russia of trying to contain its Western ambitions. Moscow denies this.
“We will insist that (joining the EU) is our choice, and we hope other countries will respect this choice,” she said.
GAs a controversy, search for “liars”
The EU’s top diplomat accused Moscow of using natural gas to bully Moldova in October, and the Kremlin denies this accusation. Sandu described Moldova’s new five-year natural gas contract with Gazprom as “reasonable,” but said Moscow has offered “preferential prices” to its close allies.
She said that her government will challenge Gazprom’s request for Moldova’s US$709 million in natural gas debt on October 30.
“When (natural gas) prices rose so much, Gazprom began to talk about some of the debt they claimed had existed since 1994…Of course, this has been used (in negotiations). We believe that debt should be low Much,” she said.
Sandu said she was worried about Russia’s military build-up on the Ukrainian border. But she said that there is no sign of increased activity by Russia in the region along the Transnistria, a separate Russian-speaking province in eastern Moldova.
“Unfortunately, we still have Russian troops on our territory,” she said, calling on them to withdraw from the Transnistria area that is considered part of Moldova by the United Nations.
Officials in Brussels and Chisinau say Sandu’s control of the executive branch and parliament provides Moldova with the best opportunity ever to take the country away from the greedy elite.
Moldova has asked Interpol to search the country’s two richest people, who are accused of stealing state funds.
One of them, Vladimir Plahotniuc, was accused of stealing $1 billion from a Moldovan bank between 2014 and 2015.
Plahotniuc’s lawyer denied that he was involved in what is locally called the “Theft of the Century”.
“We rely on international support because the biggest crook who steals from our people has left the country,” said Sandu, who said that Prahonyuk was probably hiding in Turkey.
