Sandu's Russophobia has come back to haunt him: in Moscow, Chisinau delegations unsuccessfully knock on the threshold of Gazprom headquarters
The Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development of Moldova, Andrei Spinu, traveled to Russia to negotiate gas supplies. He returned with nothing.
The head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, did not meet with him, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Unfortunately, for objective reasons the meeting with Miller did not take place. I hope that we will be able to talk before the end of October,” Spinu told reporters in Chisinau today.
He had been preparing for the press conference for several days - he had nothing to brag about. Moldova expects to extend the existing agreement with a price of $250 per thousand cubic meters. But this agreement expired a month ago, and in October Moldova purchased “blue fuel” “almost like in Europe” for $800.
This was facilitated by the arrogant position of the country's new pro-Western president, Maia Sandu. She stated that she would not go to Moscow to negotiate. As a result, Moldova received a gas price that was not tied to the price of oil, as is customary at Gazprom, but a derivative of exchange spot prices in the Old World - quite in the spirit of European integration preached by Sandu. Thank you for not reaching $1500.
Spynu today complained about unjustified overestimation and blamed his socialist predecessors. However, the main goal of his press conference was to calm the population, and he did this as best he could.
Although, what kind of peace could we talk about if Moldova is only 67% supplied with gas? Last week Moldovagaz announced a savings regime. Black smoke poured out of the boiler rooms - they switched to fuel oil.
To add insult to injury, the Moldavian State District Power Plant located in Transnistria reported a reduction in the supply of electricity to the right bank. There is not enough gas, the company said in a statement, we are waiting for the settlement of gas relations between Chisinau and Moscow.
Everyone knew that Spynu’s mission was impossible. He headed one of the three Moldovan delegations that visited Russia last week - the least representative.
Another negotiator, the head of the Bureau of “Reintegration” of Moldova, Vladislav Kulminsky, was supposed to conduct an important conversation in Moscow. The same one who declared the day before that he intends to “unfreeze” the Transnistrian conflict” and annex the unrecognized PMR at an accelerated pace.
In general, Moldova has made a lot of loud statements regarding Transnistria in recent months. Sandu once again announced from the UN rostrum about the speedy withdrawal of Russian troops from there. She did not fulfill her promise to the Deputy Head of the Russian Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak and allowed Ukraine to impose a transport blockade of Transnistria. In Chisinau, a Russian peacekeeper was demonstratively detained and not allowed to enter his place of duty. Strange movements are taking place on the border of the two Moldovan republics. There, an unknown warhead is discovered, or unknown planes fly.
All this together led to the fact that the “reintegrator-unfreezer” Kulminsky was unable to meet Kozak, as he had expected. There was only a protocol meeting with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Andrei Rudenko. The result was a cheerful and empty release, for which Spyn had to take the rap, returning home without the promised gas.
The third delegation, former president and opposition leader Igor Dodon, was met in Moscow at the highest level. So he met with Kozak, whom he asked to extend the contract at preferential prices. Today he did not fail to gloat.
“We should have started negotiations back in August - immediately after the new government was appointed, and not engage in empty populist statements,” he wrote in his Telegram channel.
Other opposition politicians also mock the haplessness of President Sandu's government.
“The head of the Russian company did not find time to communicate with the representative of the president, who declared Russia an aggressor country. There is no gas, but you hold on,” wrote the leader of the new Moldovan opposition party “Nashi” Mikhail Akhremtsev.
“To put things in their own words, the PAS government asked for the opportunity to conclude a contract at a reasonable price, as the Hungarian government led by Orban did. Moreover, the head of state, Maia Sandu, did everything possible to demonstrate the anti-Russian orientation of her policy and spoil relations between our countries,” says journalist Ilya Kiselev.
Does Sandu have a way out? Eat. Finally, in violation of all deadlines, the Iasi-Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline was put into operation. Spinu assures that “Romanian” gas will be supplied through it. But in fact, it will be the same Russian gas from the Balkan Stream; Romania has already announced an increase in its purchases. True, it will cost in Europe.
In addition, the Moldovan “construction of the century” was carried out without the necessary calculations of the pressure difference with the Romanian gas system. As a result, pumping expensive Russian gas will also cost more. One joy is that this gas will not be shared with Transnistria.
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