Important
Moldova Weekly News Digest, 22 January 2017
-On January 17th, the President of the Republic of Moldova, Igor Dodon, met Russia President Vladimir Putin to discuss the Moldo-Russian relations. The Presidents reportedly talked on the Transnistrian conflict settlement, returning the Moldovan goods on the Russian market, situation of Moldovan working migrants in Russia, economic and commercial cooperation, but also that in the humanitarian and cultural spheres.
In a joint press conference with Putin, Dodon also declared that he would pledge to cancel the Association Agreement of Moldova with the European Union, if his former Socialists’ Party (PSRM) wins a majority at the next Parliament elections.
“By the way, I was always against the signing of this Agreement. This document has brought nothing to the Republic of Moldova. We lost the Russian market. However strange, our exports to the European Union also decreased, so did not get anything from this agreement.
I don’t exclude that, after the next Parliamentary elections when I hope that PSRM will obtain a Parliamentary majority, this Agreement will be cancelled”, declared Dodon at the joint press conference with Putin.
Igor Dodon’s statement on the Association Agreement with the EU actually misinforms the public by presenting wrong information and there’s proof for that.
-The Democrat oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc reacted to the declaration of the Moldovan President Igor Dodon in Moscow on possibly cancelling the Association Agreement with the European Union. Plahotniuc stressed, in a Facebook post, that Moldova should not show contradictory signals of foreign policy since it has only the European external vector.
Moldova’s prime minister, Pavel Filip on Wednesday reacted angrily to a suggestion by the nation’s president that the ex-Soviet republic may shelve a trade pact with the European Union. In a statement to The Associated Press, Premier Pavel Filip said Moldova’s constitution did not allow the president “to announce or take such decisions,” which he called “pure, political rhetoric.”
Filip said his pro-European government would “not accept any intervention,” from Dodon about a matter outside the president’s authority. “Quite the contrary, we will accelerate the implementation of undertaken commitments,” the statement said “The Association Agreement is part of our governing program, it’s one of the strategic pillars of the country…. and we will deliver on reforms and increase citizen welfare.”
–“The European Union will not accept a discussion in trilateral format- Moldova, EU and Russia- on the Association Agreement signed with the Republic of Moldova. The question regards only Chișinău and Brussels”, says a response of the EU Delegation to Moldova to MoldNova.
The statement of the EU delegation comes in the context of President Dodon’s declaration at Moscow that the Association Agreement has not brought little or any benefits to Moldova, but also Vladimir Putin’s aggressive proposal to review the contract together with Russia.
-Political analyst Mihai Popșoi writes that “Dodon’s visit to Moscow has been a major PR stunt for the Socialists, with little to no benefits for Moldova” in his piece “How Dodon sold his country and his soul to Putin”. Moreover, the “stunt” has been beneficial for the ruling Democratic Party, who apparently defended the pro-European vector while forgetting the help given to Dodon to win the Presidential elections.
-On January 17th, the Moldovan President Igor Dodon had a meeting in Moscow with the representatives of the Eurasian Economic Union and the head of its Economic Commission, Tigran Sarkisyan.
In his Facebook post, Dodon writes that he would have agreed to sign in Spring a memorandum of cooperation between the Republic of Moldova and the Eurasian Economic Union. Moreover, he asked the union representatives to allow Moldova as an observer state, but also to discuss the formation of a roadmap for Moldova’s integration into the Eurasian Economic Union.
-The Moldovan President, Igor Dodon, believes that the Russian peace-keepers deployed in the breakaway Transnistria are the guarantor of peace in the region. The statement was made during Dodon’s TASS press conference in Moscow, Russia, on January 17th.
Dodon stresses that the peace-keepers appeared in Transnistria for a certain reason in 1992.
“It is necessary to understand that peacekeepers at the Nistru river did not appear accidentally, but because of the conflict. And they were and remain the guarantor of certain stability. They are there to ensure trust between the banks”, declared Dodon.
-The President of Moldova Igor Dodon recognized that the debt for natural gas of the breakaway Transnistria is part of Moldova’s total debt to the Russian Gazprom.
After meeting Gazprom head Alexey Miller on January 17th, Dodon stated that the Moldovan authorities would study the possible variants of paying back, even by including some assets used by Moldovagaz, the debt of 500 million US dollars of Moldova. Still, Dodon added $6 billion debt of Transnistria to Moldova’s mainland debt for natural gas.
“There are certain preliminary plans for resolving this situation. The mainland Moldova’s debt is of nearly US$500 million, while Transnistria’s debt – nearly US$6 billion. We have to understand that the whole debt – more than US$6.5 million – is Moldova’s total debt”, Dodon said.
-On January 17th, the leader of the so-called Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, Vadim Krasnoselsky, ordered to fulfill his electoral promise to make the natural gas free for socially vulnerable groups of the breakaway Transnistria. Thus, veterans, defenders of Transnistria, distinct workers and pensioners will receive a quota of 1000 cubic meters of natural gas during the heating season, free of charge.
The natural gas consumed by the Transnistrian region is only partially paid to Gazprom, the majority of the costs being laid on the Moldovagaz, the main gas supplier of Moldova. During his recent visit to Moscow, the President of Moldova Igor Dodon recognized that the debt for natural gas of the breakaway Transnistria is part of Moldova’s total debt to the Russian Gazprom. Dodon added $6 billion debt of Transnistria to Moldova’s mainland debt of $500 million for natural gas, raising anger among the Moldovan citizens who refuse to pay Transnistrian debt as part of the gas tariff.
-On January 20th, Ambassador Wolf Dietrich Heim concluded his visit in Moldova as the Special Representative of the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship for the Transnistrian Settlement Process. He “assessed the commitment of the sides to engage in a substantive, result-oriented dialogue put forward last year by the 5+2 international partners under the German OSCE Chairmanship” and “underlined the importance to remain focused on the implementation of the Berlin Protocol and other issues important to both sides, such as the Dubasari farmland issue, the operation of the Latin script schools and freedom of movement of people and goods”.
The Austrian diplomat also announced that the Austrian Foreign Minister and current Chairman of OSCE, Sebastian Kurz, would visit Moldova in February to prepare the parties of the 5+2 format for a working meeting in 2017.
-On January 16th, 10 Liberal members of the Moldovan Parliament announced they initiated a procedure to suspend the President of Moldova, Igor Dodon, and to call a referendum for his dismissal. The Liberal leader Mihai Ghimpu asks for support from the government coalition MPs, since the initiative needs to be signed by at least 34 deputies, which the Liberal caucus does not have, to be valid. According to Ghimpu, Dodon violated the Constitution and the Penal Code when congratulating the separatist leader Vadim Krasnoselski on the election as president of the breakaway Transnistria.
The Democratic Party, which rules the government coalition, answered to the call by asking the Liberal Party to come with details and arguments at the base of the initiate at the coalition meeting. Moreover, the Democrats say they would agree to sign a request to the Constitutional Court to check on the violations of the Constitution.
-On January 16th, the Prime-Minister of Moldova, Pavel Filip, rejected the Presidential proposal of Igor Dodon to dismiss the Ambassador of the Republic to Romania, his Excellency Mihai Gribincea. The proposal was sent on the same day by President Dodon with the claim that Ambassador Gribincea supported an “opinion from outside, contrary to the national interests of the Republic of Moldova” by declaring that the revoking of Moldovan citizenship of the Romania ex-President Traian Băsescu might be doubted in legal terms.
-On 20 January 2017, the Prime-Minister of Moldova, Pavel Filip, presented the results of his Government in the first year of its activity. According to Filip, the year was hard, but productive for his Cabinet. Here are the numbers and results brought by Filip in his report.
Experts see the recovery and growth of Moldova during Filip Government as resulting from the external assistance renewed by the EU, the IMF, the World Bank, following the implementation of several reforms and better management of the banking sector. At the opposite, the civil society has raised concerns throughout 2016 that the current Government does not conduct visible reformation of the justice, with only superficial reform of the Prosecution Office, and that it does not respond to challenges of political prosecution and intimidation of journalists and extra-Parliamentary political opponents.
-The Government of the United Kingdom has launched a review of the Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLP) after finding links to the $1 billion frauds in Moldova.
The UK Government is now questioning the usefulness of SLPs, which have legal capacity to hold assets, borrow money from banks and enter into contacts. The decision comes after finding the use of SLPs for criminal activity such as the transfer of one billion US dollars from three Moldovan banks to shell Scottish companies as loans, sent back to Eastern European banks accounts afterwards.
-On January 17th, the Buiucani Court of Chișinău issued another warrant for 30 days of home arrest for the businessman and Orhei mayor Ilan Shor. Prosecutor investigating the case, Andrei Băieșu, declared that the request for home arrest of Shor was accepted with the same reasons, with little exceptions on the need of some expertise of the case.
Shor is accused of obtaining more than 5 billion lei from Banca de Economii in loans, from 4th to 25th of November 2014, the sum being confirmed by the Kroll report, and then laundering them through offshore companies.
-Zarina Alimbaeva writes at Transitions Online that Moldovan prisons are overcrowded and undeveloped.
“Critics from the Council of Europe to the government itself say Moldova needs a more humane prison system. And they’ve kept on saying it for years”, says Alimbaeva.
-On January 16th, the former deputy Prosecutor General of Moldova, Andrei Pântea, was condemned to 2 years of imprisonment for power abuse in transferring the case of thief-in-law Grigore Karamalak to the Russian Federation.
The same court decided that the former prosecutor should be release under amnesty, since the accusation party asked for it. Therefore, the abuse of power was changed to involvement in the exercise of justice and penal investigation, stipulated by the law on the penal amnesty.
-Vladimir Botnari, former chief policeman of Chișinău, previously judged for negligence during the 7 April 2009 revolts, asks prosecutors to bring to justice the journalist of Center for Journalistic Investigations, Mariana Rață. Botnari submitted a complaint to the Prosecution Office of Chișinău, invoking that the journalist accessed and distributed, without his consent, personal data regarding him and members of his family. Moreover, the former policeman asks to prosecute everyone that accessed and distributed his personal data starting from October 2009 until now.
Vladimir Botnari, Screen: ProTV
Former chief policeman, who previously held various high positions between 2002 and 2009, was judged together with the former Interior Minister Gheorghe Papuc for negligence at service during the revolts in April 2009, resulted in the death of Valeriu Boboc beaten by a policeman. On 30 June 2015, Botnari was acquitted by the Supreme Court of Justice, saving him from suspended two years of detention and Papuc from 4 years of imprisonment. Both were revoked of their general military grades.
Important
#WorldForUkraine – a map that shows the magnitude of the world’s actions against Russian aggression
The international community and volunteers from all over te world have launched #WorldForUkraine as a platform that shows the magnitude of the world’s actions against the Russian aggression. In a digital world – it is an interactive map of public support of Ukrainians under the hashtag #WorldForUkraine – rallies, flash mobs, protests around the world. In the physical dimension – it is your opportunity to take to the streets and declare: “No to Putin’s aggression, no to war.”
„Today, along with the political and military support, emotional connection with the civilized world and truthful information are extremely important for Ukraine. The power to do it is in your hands. Join the #WorldForUkraine project and contribute to the victorious battle against the bloodshed inflicted on Ukraine by the aggression of the Russian Federation”, says the „about the project” section of the platform.
Go to the streets — Tell people — Connect and Unite — Become POWERFUL
Volunteers have launched #WorldForUkraine as a platform that shows the magnitude of the world’s actions against Russian aggression. In digital world – it is an INTERACTIVE MAP of public support of Ukrainians worldforukraine.net under the hashtag #WorldForUkraine – rallies, flash mobs, protests around the world. In the physical dimension – it is your opportunity to take to the streets and declare: “No to Putin’s aggression, no to war.” There you may find information about past and future rallies in your city in support of Ukraine. This is a permanent platform for Ukrainian diaspora and people all over the world concerned about the situation in Ukraine.
So here’s a couple of things you could do yourself to help:
* if there is a political rally in your city, then participate in it and write about it on social media with geolocation and the hashtag #WorldForUkraine
* if there are no rallies nearby, organize one in support of Ukraine yourself, write about it on social media with geolocation adding the hashtag #WorldForUkraine
The map will add information about gathering by #WorldForUkraine AUTOMATICALLY
Your voice now stronger THAN ever
All rallies are already here: https://worldforukraine.net
Important
How is Moldova managing the big influx of Ukrainian refugees? The authorities’ plan, explained
From 24th to 28th of February, 71 359 Ukrainian citizens entered the territory of Republic of Moldova. 33 173 of them left the country. As of this moment, there are 38 186 Ukrainian citizens in Moldova, who have arrived over the past 100 hours.
The Moldovan people and authorities have organized themselves quickly from the first day of war between Russia and Ukraine. However, in the event of a prolonged armed conflict and a continuous influx of Ukrainian refugees, the efforts and donations need to be efficiently managed. Thus, we inquired about Moldova’s long-term plan and the state’s capacity to receive, host, and treat a bigger number of refugees.
On February 26th, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Moldova approved the Regulation of organization and functioning of the temporary Placement Center for refugees and the staffing and expenditure rules. According to the Regulation, the Centers will have the capacity of temporary hosting and feeding at least 20 persons, for a maximum of 3 months, with the possibility of extending this period. The Centers will also offer legal, social, psychological, and primary medical consultations to the refugees. The Center’s activity will be financed from budget allocations, under Article 19 of Provision no. 1 of the Exceptional Situations Commission from February 24th, 2022, and from other sources of funding that do not contravene applicable law.
The Ministry of Inner Affairs and the Government of Moldova facilitated the organization of the volunteers’ group “Moldova for Peace”. Its purpose is to receive, offer assistance and accommodation to the Ukrainian refugees. The group is still working on creating a structure, registering and contacting volunteers, etc. It does not activate under a legal umbrella.
Lilia Nenescu, one of the “Moldova for Peace” volunteers, said that the group consists of over 20 people. Other 1700 registered to volunteer by filling in this form, which is still available. The group consists of several departments:
The volunteers’ department. Its members act as fixers: they’re responsible for connecting the people in need of assistance with the appropriate department. Some of the volunteers are located in the customs points. “The Ministry of Inner Affairs sends us every day the list of the customs points where our assistance is needed, and we mobilize the volunteers”, says Lilia Nenescu.
The Goods Department manages all the goods donated by the Moldavian citizens. The donations are separated into categories: non-perishable foods and non-food supplies. The volunteers of this department sort the goods into packages to be distributed.
The Government intends to collect all the donations in four locations. The National Agency for Food Safety and the National Agency for Public Health will ensure mechanisms to confirm that all the deposited goods comply with safety and quality regulations.
The Service Department operates in 4 directions and needs the volunteer involvement of specialists in psychology, legal assistance (the majority of the refugees only have Ukrainian ID and birth certificates of their children); medical assistance; translation (a part of the refugees are not Ukrainian citizens).
According to Elena Mudrîi, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, so far there is no data about the number of Covid-19 positive refugees. She only mentioned two cases that needed outpatient medical assistance: a pregnant woman and the mother of a 4-day-old child.
The Accommodation Department. The volunteers are waiting for the centralized and updated information from the Ministry of Labor about the institutions offering accommodation, besides the houses offered by individuals.
The Transport Department consists of drivers organized in groups. They receive notifications about the number of people who need transportation from the customs points to the asylum centers for refugees.
The municipal authorities of Chișinău announced that the Ukrainian children refugees from the capital city will be enrolled in educational institutions. The authorities also intend to create Day-Care Centers for children, where they will be engaged in educational activities and will receive psychological assistance. Besides, the refugees from the municipal temporary accommodation centers receive individual and group counseling.
In addition to this effort, a group of volunteers consisting of Ana Gurău, Ana Popapa, and Andrei Lutenco developed, with the help of Cristian Coșneanu, the UArefugees platform, synchronized with the responses from this form. On the first day, 943 people offered their help using the form, and 110 people asked for help. According to Anna Gurău, the volunteers communicate with the Government in order to update the platform with the missing data.
Translation from Romanian by Natalia Graur
A new football club has earned a leading place in the UEFA Champions League groups and starred in the headlines of worldwide football news yesterday. The Football Club Sheriff Tiraspol claimed a win with the score 2-1 against Real Madrid on the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. That made Sheriff Tiraspol the leader in Group D of the Champions League, including the football club in the groups of the most important European interclub competition for the first time ever.
International media outlets called it a miracle, a shock and a historic event, while strongly emphasizing the origin of the team and the existing political conflict between the two banks of the Dniester. “Football club from a pro-Russian separatist enclave in Moldova pulls off one of the greatest upsets in Champions League history,” claimed the news portals. “Sheriff crushed Real!” they said.
Moldovans made a big fuss out of it on social media, splitting into two groups: those who praised the team and the Republic of Moldova for making history and those who declared that the football club and their merits belong to Transnistria – a problematic breakaway region that claims to be a separate country.
Both groups are right and not right at the same time, as there is a bunch of ethical, political, social and practical matters that need to be considered.
Is it Moldova?
First of all, every Moldovan either from the right or left bank of Dniester (Transnistria) is free to identify himself with this achievement or not to do so, said Vitalie Spranceana, a sociologist, blogger, journalist and urban activist. According to him, boycotting the football club for being a separatist team is wrong.
At the same time, “it’s an illusion to think that territory matters when it comes to football clubs,” Spranceana claimed. “Big teams, the ones included in the Champions League, have long lost their connection both with the countries in which they operate, and with the cities in which they appeared and to which they linked their history. […] In the age of globalized commercial football, teams, including the so-called local ones, are nothing more than global traveling commercial circuses, incidentally linked to cities, but more closely linked to all sorts of dirty, semi-dirty and cleaner cash flows.”
What is more important in this case is the consistency, not so much of citizens, as of politicians from the government who have “no right to celebrate the success of separatism,” as they represent “the national interests, not the personal or collective pleasures of certain segments of the population,” believes the political expert Dionis Cenusa. The victory of FC Sheriff encourages Transnistrian separatism, which receives validation now, he also stated.
“I don’t know how it happens that the “proud Moldovans who chose democracy”, in their enthusiasm for Sheriff Tiraspol’s victory over Real Madrid, forget the need for total and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria!” declared the journalist Vitalie Ciobanu.
Nowadays, FC Sheriff Tiraspol has no other choice than to represent Moldova internationally. For many years, the team used the Moldovan Football Federation in order to be able to participate in championships, including international ones. That is because the region remains unrecognised by the international community. However, the club’s victory is presented as that of Transnistria within the region, without any reference to the Republic of Moldova, its separatist character being applied in this case especially.
Is it a victory?
In fact, FC Sheriff Tiraspol joining the Champions League is a huge image breakthrough for the Transnistrian region, as the journalist Madalin Necsutu claimed. It is the success of the Tiraspol Club oligarchic patrons. From the practical point of view, FC Sheriff Tiraspol is a sports entity that serves its own interests and the interests of its owners, being dependent on the money invested by Tiraspol (but not only) oligarchs.
Here comes the real dilemma: the Transnistrian team, which is generously funded by money received from corruption schemes and money laundering, is waging an unequal fight with the rest of the Moldovan football clubs, the journalist also declared. The Tiraspol team is about to raise 15.6 million euro for reaching the Champions League groups and the amounts increase depending on their future performance. According to Necsutu, these money will go directly on the account of the club, not to the Moldovan Football Federation, creating an even bigger gab between FC Sheriff and other football clubs from Moldova who have much more modest financial possibilities.
“I do not see anything useful for Moldovan football, not a single Moldovan player is part of FC Sheriff Tiraspol. I do not see anything beneficial for the Moldovan Football Federation or any national team.”
Is it only about football?
FC Sheriff Tiraspol, with a total estimated value of 12.8 million euros, is controlled by Victor Gusan and Ilya Kazmala, being part of Sheriff Holding – a company that controls the trade of wholesale, retail food, fuels and medicine by having monopolies on these markets in Transnistria. The holding carries out car trading activities, but also operates in the field of construction and real estate. Gusan’s people also hold all of the main leadership offices in the breakaway region, from Parliament to the Prime Minister’s seat or the Presidency.
The football club is supported by a holding alleged of smuggling, corruption, money laundering and organised crime. Moldovan media outlets published investigations about the signals regarding the Sheriff’s holding involvement in the vote mobilization and remuneration of citizens on the left bank of the Dniester who participated in the snap parliamentary elections this summer and who were eager to vote for the pro-Russian socialist-communist bloc.
Considering the above, there is a great probability that the Republic of Moldova will still be represented by a football club that is not identified as being Moldovan, being funded from obscure money, growing in power and promoting the Transnistrian conflict in the future as well.
Photo: unknown
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