Moscow invited Moldova to be friends without mentioning Transnistria
The Moldovan-Russian economic forum, which opened these days in Chisinau, is held under the motto: take advantage while you can.
The Moldovan side assures that the situation in the country has changed, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The situation at the Chisinau airport, through which guests from Russia passed without any problems with border guards, is presented as an achievement. And at the beginning of the year, politicians, political scientists, journalists and businessmen risked being deported right off the plane.
“We are renewing strategic partnerships at all levels. We are returning to the level of cooperation we have always strived for. I would like to urge all our partners, Russian and others, that the situation in Moldova has changed for the better, do not waste time, be the first to take advantage of this situation,” President of Moldova Igor Dodon said from the forum’s rostrum.
However, the warming may not last long. It all depends on how long the chimera of the current Moldovan government – an unnatural union of conditionally pro-Russian socialists Dodon and the pro-European bloc ACUM – will live. Foreign policy is the most vulnerable point of this strange alliance.
It is not for nothing that Prime Minister Maia Sandu fled to the United States during the forum. In Washington, no one except Ivanka Trump met with her, but she managed to avoid a rendezvous in Chisinau with the “great and terrible” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, the author of the plan for resolving the Transnistrian conflict, which is simply making the pro-European Moldovan crowd cringe.
Kozak missed Sandu and expressed hope to see the Moldovan prime minister in Moscow (such a visit is being prepared).
“We all need to think together and harmonize all the rules. In parallel, work out the CIS and European rules. If we agree on this, we will have Russian and Moldovan goods on the European market, and Moldovan and European goods on the Russian market. This is a real mutually beneficial cooperation that takes into account the interests of all,” Kozak said at the forum.
He also told the Moldovans some not very good news: From January 1, 2020, Russia can return the previously existing duties on the import of fruits and vegetables, canned goods and wine products. “As long as the duties are in effect, this must be used,” Kozak urged.
At the same time, he asked not to intensify negotiations on the Transnistrian settlement for now.
“We proceed from the fact that at the present time, in the current conditions of fragile optimism, there is no need to raise this topic. She is delicate and difficult. Today we are not touching on this topic in order to preserve this fragile peace, the fragile coalition that exists today in the Republic of Moldova. This is more important,” Kozak said.
More than 1 thousand delegates from 13 countries are taking part in the Moldovan-Russian Economic Forum this year. They will work in 12 discussion groups.
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