It is difficult to anticipate what punishment Moscow will impose on the Republic of Moldova for establishing diplomatic parity because Russia has exhausted its levers of influence over Moldova. This statement comes from the political commentator, Ion Tăbîrță, who notes that the relationship between Chisinau and Moscow is tense, as Russia continues to treat Moldova as a colony.
On July 26, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Chisinau announced its decision regarding the equivalence of diplomatic, administrative, technical, and service personnel numbers between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Moldova. According to the principle of parity, each state’s representation is to consist of 10 diplomatic positions and 15 administrative, technical, and service positions. Political commentator Ion Tăbîrță says that the decision of the Chisinau authorities demonstrates the strained Moldovan-Russian relations.
“The Moldovan-Russian relationship is deficient. The current government attempted to build a pragmatic dialogue with the Russian Federation, which did not succeed, especially given the war, and improving relations with Russia cannot happen under the circumstances when Chisinau speaks the truth, namely that Russia is an aggressor state. To have a different relationship with Russia now, we must either explicitly or implicitly support aggression against Ukraine. Russia views the Republic of Moldova based on the metropolis-colony relationship. Russia, especially Vladimir Putin, has this mentality. The aggression that Putin triggered in Ukraine is the result of this mentality and revanchist policies,” said Ion Tăbârță on the show “Puncte de Reflecție” on Vocea Basarabiei.
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According to the political commentator, it is difficult to imagine what else Russia could invent to punish Chisinau, as the Kremlin has gradually exhausted all levers of influence over the Republic of Moldova.
“Russia has almost exhausted its levers of influence over the Republic of Moldova. This process began back in 2013. We remember the embargoes on agricultural and wine products as punishment for initialing and signing the Association Agreement with the EU. Subsequently, energy leverage was also used. Gradually, Moldova began to resist these pressures from Russia. We must admit that Moldova’s energy dependence on the Russian Federation has diminished, but it has not disappeared entirely,” added the political commentator.
The decision of the Chisinau authorities regarding the equivalence of diplomatic, administrative, technical, and service personnel numbers between the Republic of Moldova and Russia was announced to the Russian Federation’s ambassador to Chisinau and will be implemented starting from August 15, 2023.