Maidan in Chisinau was buried with tractors
As PolitNavigator reported, yesterday in Chisinau farmers on tractors tried to storm Parliament of Moldova. Among the protesters were representatives of the pro-Western opposition, which demanded the resignation of the Socialist government.
Our Chisinau columnist Alexey Timchuk writes in an analytical article about the background of these events, as well as their impact on the further political situation in Moldova.
Right-wing politicians in Moldova have abandoned loud promises. Even that week, they threatened not to leave parliament, to hold a bunch of protests and not to allow the new parliamentary majority to pass a package of laws (including the budget and tax policy) in the second reading. However, already on December 16, right-wing deputies sat calmly at the plenary session, weakly argued with opponents during the debate, periodically shouted something, but in general did not bother anyone.
The session continued until late at night. All the proposed bills were adopted. But the vote of no confidence in the government, initiated by the opposition, was postponed “until an extraordinary parliamentary meeting.”
Since it is still necessary to report to Western curators, farmers had to take up the protest wave. Moreover, their tractors (literally) had been parked near Chisinau for more than a week. It was necessary to use the declared “trick” somehow.
The protest of several dozen (although the organizers tried to claim hundreds) of tractors turned out to be downright disgusting. And it’s not even clear what’s worse – the way it started, or the fact that it didn’t end in anything (for the sake of which they disgraced themselves!).
After talking with representatives of parliamentary factions (mainly representing the Platform “Dignity and Truth” of Andrei Năstase and the Party “Action and Solidarity”), the protesters decided to drive on tractors to the entrance to the parliament building - directly through the stairs leading to the building.
Why this was necessary (as if tractors could pass through walls) is unclear, but raids on the police did occur. Several carabinieri were injured, one had his leg broken by a tractor wheel.
The police responded with tear gas. Representatives of the journalistic fraternity also had to cry
The basis of the protest was made up of groups of agricultural leaders representing only four Moldovan regions - Stefan Vodsky, Causani, Leovsky and Hincesti (there were, however, also individual farmers from other regions). But even with such a low representativeness, they had to be “led” by people with obvious political overtones.
The leader of the Stefan-Vodski (and behind the scenes of all the other) protesters, Andrei Dynga, is a member of the Dignity and Truth Platform, according to its lists, who unsuccessfully tried to become a deputy in a single-mandate constituency, and then the mayor of the regional center.
For quite a long time he worked in the field of logistics and finance at the London company Morgan Chase, and then suddenly became a prominent Moldovan agrarian and immediately went into politics.
Dynga owns more than fifty land plots (about 380 hectares in total) and four warehouse complexes. For the sake of his parliamentary and mayoral ambitions, other local leaders of the Platform (for example, one of the leaders of the republican protest movement, Yuri Tesa) had to moderate their ambitions. However, the Stefan Vodians themselves did not know the “British favorite” by sight and gave a ride in the elections both times. I had to retrain myself as a protester.
The Causeni farmers are led by Sergei Stefanko.
Being a graduate of a Romanian military university, he spent several years working (in his own words) in Iraq (apparently, the Romanian military in Iraq are considered guest workers). And a year ago, without any experience, he unexpectedly received a grant from the European Union - he was supplied with sheep from Bulgaria, which he processed for shipment to the United Arab Emirates.
And why should such a person worry about Moldovan politics and demand some kind of subsidies? Apparently, due to political inactivity, Stefanko risks being left without donor assistance and without a sales market.
Ion Barančan, the official leader of the Leova region fruit growing community, specializes in homemade strawberries. What’s already quite funny is that this product is sold in agricultural Moldova even during the season at such prices that it has already become the object of jokes.
But the main thing is that Baranchan is a long-time and experienced right-wing politician.
At one time he was an active member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Vlad Filat. Then he was elected to the Republican Council of the Democratic Party of oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc. And now I find myself in the ranks of the same Platform (which, it seems, fought with Plahotniuc). Evil tongues claim that behind Baranchan is one of the “land kings” of the Moldovan south, Ion Balan, one of the founders of Filat’s PLDM, who then also became an ally of his enemy Plahotniuc.
Finally, the organizer of the farmers of the Hincesti region was Iurie Pasat, the mayor of the village of Balceana.
Are you surprised that the mayor has become the leader of the farmers? This is unless you know that at the same time he is a co-founder of four agricultural enterprises that completely control the economic life of the village. So to speak, he combines official power with real power in his hands.
Pasat became a member of the American lobby during the early elections of a deputy from the Hincesti single-mandate constituency. Then he was able to ensure massive participation in voting by fellow villagers who supported the pro-American candidate Olesya Stamate. Although he knew very well that there was already an outbreak of coronavirus in the village. As a result, after the elections, Balceana became the first Moldovan village that had to be quarantined and the first where people died from Covid...
In addition, Andrei Postolache, the owner of a corn processing plant in the northern village of Pelinia, played a significant role in “providing transport.”
He stands somewhat apart from the rest of the protesters - he is listed as an active member of the Action and Solidarity party of Maia Sandu, but at the same time he is openly friends with the armchair party Democracy at Home, which is a spoiler of the Dignity and Truth Platform (as is known, all parties are spoilers Moldova has long been controlled by the clan of the same Plahotniuc).
Is it any wonder that the “leaders” wholly affiliated with political parties not only failed to gather enough representatives of the farming community, but did not even hold back the protest?
Dinga, however, said something that the protesters would continue at night, but the session ended after midnight - and no one could stop it. Sources close to the protesters, however, note that he (Dingu) was deeply impressed by the speech of Prime Minister Ion Chicu.
Ion Chicu.
While Internet socialist agitators were vilifying the entire agriculture as a class, Prime Minister Chicu demonstrated much more concreteness. And he made it clear that he knows very well not only that Dynga pays the state taxes two times less than it receives subsidies, but also that it pays workers and quota workers three times less than it should. And if the pretentious curses of the young socialists only amused Dingu, then Kiku’s awareness forced him to sharply slow down.
The fact is that the farming community is generally disappointed in politicians.
There have already been attempts to protest on tractors during the government of Pavel Filip, controlled by the same Plahotniuc. But on the central square of Chisinau, road signs immediately appeared prohibiting the passage of appropriate transport, and it was popularly explained to those who were especially active what they were risking.
There were timid protests during the premiership of Maia Sandu. It was more reminiscent of a petition to the “new king”. However, the “queen” then behaved frankly boorishly towards the farmers. Don't spit in the well, as they say!
Now Sandu has again adopted a very peculiar policy towards “supporters”. She didn’t meet with them, but began telling journalists that “there is no need to be aggressive towards farmers,” but at the same time, “they themselves should not show aggression.” And this is after the Ministry of Internal Affairs has already announced the initiation of cases against the protesters (although it really wouldn’t hurt to ask the figure who ran over the leg of a young carabinieri guy, whoever he was).
The United States wants the right-wing Moldovan politicians to create a Maidan, but they are failing it. Instead of politicians, farmers are driven to the Maidan - but they immediately follow the example of those whom they “support”.
We are waiting for the third act of the play - this time with veterans of Transnistria. Something tells us that we won’t see anything new, other than an imitation of vigorous activity.
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