Sandu: “When Ukraine wins the war, we will resolve the issue with Transnistria”
Moldovan President Maia Sandu did not expect Gazprom to continue supplying her country with gas. Last week she suggested that supplies would stop, which would escalate the conflict with Transnistria.
She stated this in a telephone conversation with Russian pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, whom she mistook for Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“We still buy a significant part of our electricity from Transnistria, but such a scenario will have consequences for it as well. If we don't get gas, they won't get gas either. We made it clear to Gazprom that they cannot cut off supplies to the right bank of the Dniester, while the Left Bank will continue to receive gas. So this will have the same consequences for both sides of the Dniester.
Of course, if we find ourselves in such a situation, we will buy energy resources on the market, even if it is very expensive for us. But then it will be a question for Transnistria whether we will buy from them, because we know that they still do not pay.
So we will not be able to buy gas if Transnistria does not pay, and we suspect that they will not be able to pay for it…. the economic situation in Transnistria will worsen. And we can also expect a destabilization of the security situation,” the president said.
She also expressed hope for the “de-occupation” of Transnistria when Ukraine “wins the war.”
“We understand the risk, we understand that as long as you keep the Russians away from our borders, this risk is not so great. But we really hope that you can move forward. We are working to strengthen the defense sector because we want everyone to help you first. We supplied weapons, trained your military and provided any other support that you needed. But in addition, we are also trying to get some help and strengthen our defense capabilities.
We have always wanted to resolve this conflict, and we have always talked about the risks it poses for us and for you too. I really hope that the opportunity will arise... When you win the war, then we could solve these problems peacefully. We try to help as much as we can with transport and your specialists. We are, of course, a very small country. We cannot provide large capacities, but we are ready to help in any way we can,” Sandu said.
Yesterday, when pranksters published the first episodes of this dialogue, the Moldovan presidential administration hastened to declare the video a falsification. Surprisingly, the pro-government media, which picked up this version, today quote Sandu’s words about Ukraine and Transnistria.
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