Russia is trying to “remake the Soviet Union”, but Moldova does not want this. This was stated by the President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, in an interview for the Financial Times.
Sandu said that Russia is using energy blackmail and street protests to achieve its goals.
“We want to be part of the democratic world. Russia has always tried to control Moldova, and when it saw that it could no longer use energy resources to blackmail us, it decided to resort to street protests, taking advantage of the problems that citizens are experiencing. They didn’t succeed, so they changed their tactics again and tried to attract people from outside to cause destabilization. They want to bring back the old times. And we don’t want that. Moldova has been a buffer zone for 30 years, and for us, it meant poverty, corruption, bad governance, and emigration. We want to be part of the democratic world”, Maia Sandu said.
Asked whether she would leave Moldova in the event of an attack by the Russian Federation, she replied in the negative.
“I would have stayed (in Moldova – ed.), but I counted on the fact that we should help as many of our people as possible to move to a safe place, which is Romania”, she said.
The President of the Republic of Moldova claims that the current government in Chisinau wants integration into the EU and settlement of the Transnistrian conflict.
“We are committed to reintegration, but this should not come at the expense of our EU integration. It won’t be easy. It cannot happen in a year”, Sandu said.