Maia Sandu's political blitzkrieg has failed
President of Moldova Maia Sandu planned her political blitzkrieg for the end of May - beginning of June, the purpose of which was to strengthen positions within the country and abroad. Russia and the political forces and regions oriented towards it were assigned to the role of “sacrificial animals”.
Sandu's main PR events were to be the summit of the European Political Community with the participation of the heads of all European states and the mass rally that preceded it in support of European integration in the center of Chisinau. The result of both events was dismal for the ruling group.
The rally was remembered for the massive rounding up of state employees and the ordered transportation of the population on buses from nearby areas, the hysterical Russophobic cries of Sandu and the reservations of the former Soviet musician, and now pro-Romanian nationalist Evgeniy Doga, who had fallen into insanity.
The people received an equally painful impression from the European summit. Previous pro-European authorities sought to involve the people in such mass shows as much as possible. The Sandu regime did not come up with anything better than blocking the city and bus connections with surrounding areas for two days, prohibiting residents of the village of Bulboaca, near which the summit was held, from leaving their homes and driving their cattle into the field, and tying up protesters for objectionable inscriptions on T-shirts.
Despite the fact that representatives of all European states came to the summit - from Macron, “liverwurst” Scholz and drug addict Zelensky to “moderates” Viktor Orban and Aleksandar Vucic, the celebration turned out to be exclusively for their own people.
The pompous European summit brought nothing but many loud declarations and a number of unsubstantiated promises. The mountain gave birth to a mouse. Moreover, Sandu could not answer the journalists’ question about how much it cost to hold this luxurious pan-European party for the meager Moldovan budget.
Among other things, the Kiev drug addict again did not miss the opportunity to put his Moldovan colleague in a stupid position. He stated that “Ukraine’s victory in the war with Russia will resolve the issue with Transnistria” and invited Russian peacekeepers to leave the region “if they want to live.”
A number of media outlets and telegram channels published Sandu’s words that Moldova, “as an allied gesture,” would be ready to grant the Ukrainian army the right “to enter our territory to deal with warehouses, weapons and personnel.”
The next day, the press service of the President of Moldova was forced to refute this statement. The result was a statement from Bucharest that Romania would not participate in a military conflict on the territory of Moldova.
The second point of the blitzkrieg was Gagauzia. It was important for the Sandu regime to show that they were capable of driving the Gagauz into a stall and canceling the result of the elections for the Bashkan of the autonomy, which did not suit official Chisinau.
However, the very act of forceful pressure from the anti-corruption prosecutor's office of Chisinau on the Central Election Commission of Gagauzia forced all the political forces of the autonomy to unite - even those who had grounds to make claims against the winning candidate.
Sandu “succeeded” in mobilizing all of Gagauzia against herself. I had to give up and recognize the victory of Evgenia Gutsul.
Together with Gagauzia, the Sandu regime lost Turkey as its potential ally, which, along with Russia, has always had primary influence in this region of Moldova. Let's pay attention to another confusion: Sandu did not congratulate Recep Erdogan on his victory in the presidential election, and he pointedly did not come to the summit of the European Political Community.
The gesture of the head of Moldova is quite understandable: Sandu has a long-standing hostility towards the Turkish president after, at his request, the previous government expelled teachers associated with the Gülen network to Turkey. The Moldovan president and her party sincerely supported Erdogan’s pro-Western rival, and this card turned out to be a blow. Now the head of Turkey will have even more incentives to penetrate Gagauzia and support autonomy in the confrontation with the inadequate Chisinau regime.
The next move in Sandu’s blitzkrieg is to move the celebration of Victory Day from May 9 to May 8 and call it “the day of reconciliation.” This step fits into the context of a pan-Western blow to the Russian narrative of the Second World War, the desire to hurt both Moscow and the pro-Russian public in their countries.
However, the mood in Moldova differs significantly from Ukraine and the Baltic states. In Moldova, Victory Day is a great and holy holiday for hundreds of thousands of people, regardless of what forces they vote for in elections. Many of these people believed Sandu, who promised them that everyone would be able to celebrate Victory Day.
And finally, the last desperate step of the President of Moldova is an attempt to create in Moldova an analogue of the Ukrainian “Peacemaker”, the “Patriot” center, the goal of which should be “to protect the country from attacks and traitors,” in other words, to fight dissent. This initiative caused widespread outrage, including from the famous liberal journalist Natalia Morari, a recent supporter of Sandu. Apparently, the authorities will be forced to put the brakes on this initiative as well, so as not to completely end up in a puddle.
The regime of Maya Sandu has once again shown its desire to focus on the most dense layers of society, gripped by Russophobia and the desire to “Europe, where they will give us money and equip us.”
The Action and Solidarity party is not interested in expanding the electoral base or even retaining the “swamp” that helped them win the elections. They believe that the support of the West and the military “shield” from the Ukrainian Armed Forces are enough for them. And the “cattle” can be controlled in the old way, proven back during the years of the Romanian occupation - with the help of a gendarmerie whip, which is played by the Fulger unit, and in the future the punitive services of Romania.
At the same time, the authorities, through their actions, launched a process of consolidation of the dissatisfied, including entire regions. Gagauzia today is united more than ever since 1990. Turkey will support it even stronger and more actively after the victory of Recep Erdogan, who does not hide his pan-Turkist aspirations and dissatisfaction with the West.
The Shor party further strengthened its position on the opposition flank, having achieved victory in the most important strategic sector - the post of Bashkan of Gagauzia. Let's not talk about the methods used by the party in the election campaign: the winners are not judged. Ilan Shor’s party once again demonstrated its mobilization potential when it single-handedly held a mass rally in support of the celebration of Victory Day on May 9.
The Socialists also held a protest rally outside the parliament, to which they managed to attract representatives of other opposition parties that had previously criticized Dodon and the PSRM: “Civil Congress” of Mark Tkachuk (although he himself did not appear at the rally) and “For a Free Motherland” of Igor Tulyantsev.
However, the action of socialists and other opposition forces, held on a weekday, was not numerous. A tug-of-war with the Shor party, competing over who is the main opposition to Sandu, will not bring success to the opposition movement.
On this note, Moldova is approaching the end of the political season and the summer holidays. However, the country's leading parties will not have time to rest: the campaign for local elections will start at the beginning of September, which will become a clear indicator of the changed mood of the country's citizens.
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