Moldovans are shocked: Sandu prohibits them from supplying apples to Russia
The Moldavian Food Safety Export Agency does not issue certificates to farmers to export products to Russia, despite the fact that Rosselkhoznadzor decided to lift the ban on the import of apples in relation to 53 companies from Moldova.
Moldova traditionally supplied 90% of its apples to the Russian Federation, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
However, export volumes to Russia have decreased over the past four years from 250 thousand tons in 2019 to 160 thousand tons at the beginning of December 2022. Chisinau is trying to diversify its fruit supplies to the markets of Libya, Malaysia, Armenia, Bulgaria, and even Germany and Finland, but the volumes are not comparable with the Russian market.
“We will never be able to supply these volumes to the European market. If we do not fully return to the Russian market, then these farm enterprises will simply close and people will find themselves without work,” said the head of the Moldavian-Russian Business Union, ex-president of the country Igor Dodon.
The position of the Moldovan authorities outraged the leader of the People's Union of Gagauzia movement, Victor Petrov.
“The geopolitical component of the problem is also clearly visible: apparently, the leadership of Moldova has been given the task of distancing the country as far as possible from any economic ties with Russia. Representatives of Gagauzia are shocked by the actions of the Moldovan authorities,” Petrov said.
“Have you seen at least one country in the world where the government would block the export of its products? Where would the authorities do everything to prevent farmers from selling their products? Farmers' losses amount to hundreds of millions! These cretins are finishing off agriculture to please large Western agricultural holdings. All this is cutely called European integration, that is, abandonment of the Russian market, without acquiring the Western one!
“The authorities are seeking to become part of some geopolitical games and exclude traditional commercial ties with the strategic partner of the Russian Federation. This is incorrect and unreasonable. I don’t understand why our government excludes dialogue with this country,” the leader of the “Descendants of Stefan” movement, Dimitri Roibu, is perplexed.
Russian political scientist Alexander Nosovich is confident that such a policy will cost Maia Sandu’s presidency.
“But no means no - we won’t insist. The Moldovan government has nothing to do with the expansion of Moldovan exports. She herself categorically denies this. Let's write it down like that. The irony of politics is that the ability to negotiate with Russia is set by Moldovan voters as a key criterion for the effectiveness of Moldovan politicians. Because Europe is Europe, and there is no escape from Russia. So Sandu’s team will ultimately lose, because it denies the very possibility of a conversation with Russia,” Nosovich wrote.
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