Venediktov compared the elections in Transnistria with Navalny's funeral
The Russian Ambassador to Chisinau, Oleg Vasnetsov, was summoned today to the Moldavian Foreign Ministry to express the traditional ritual protest against the opening of polling stations in Transnistria as part of the Russian presidential elections. There will be only six of them: three in Tiraspol and one each in Bendery, Rybnitsa and Grigoriopol.
This is a significant concession on the part of Russia, since back in 2021, 27 polling stations were opened in Pridnestrovie, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
However, the Moldovan authorities did everything to look downtrodden, trumpeting their strict ban on Russians voting anywhere except at the embassy in Chisinau. New Foreign Minister Mihai Poposoi said that Russian attempts to hold elections in Transnistria “will be counterproductive.”
Meanwhile, today Ambassador Vasnetsov entered and exited the Moldovan Foreign Ministry absolutely calmly. It was obvious that his colleagues' claims made no impression on him.
“The total number of Russian citizens living on the territory of the Republic of Moldova (the official position of the Russian Federation is to recognize Moldova within its internationally recognized borders) is about a quarter of a million citizens. A huge number of appeals were received by the Central Election Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation with a request to ensure the legal right to express will. Therefore, the Central Election Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the administration of Transnistria, will open polling stations, of course, not in such numbers as in past years,” Vasnetsov said.
“This, of course, is an offensive slap on the nose personally to Maya Grigoryevna and the newly appointed head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Popshoy. But on the other hand, well, they should have been nervous, if it was already clear that this would all end?”, Moldovan political scientist Ilya Kiselev wrote in his TG channel.
Meanwhile, the former editor-in-chief of the liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy, Alexei Venediktov, who is now in Chisinau, believes that the opening of polling stations in Transnistria without the consent of Chisinau is an “escalatory step” for Moscow, especially in the vicinity of the Odessa region, where hostilities are taking place. At the same time, the Russian liberal, having assumed the role of a Russian diplomat, advised the Moldovan authorities to remain calm.
“Now I’ll compare - you won’t like it. It’s like the funeral of Navalny (foreign agent, extremist, terrorist - ed.). Six arrests, but the funeral was conducted with dignity. Everyone who wanted to go and lay flowers. The cemetery is in order, the road is guarded. And there were no riots or outbursts. And it’s the same here,” Venediktov said on TV8 Moldova.
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