Politics
Ukrainian paper sees Moldovan president losing Russian support
Reading Time: 6 minutesThe Communist authorities in Moldova were losing Russias support even ahead of the 29 July early parliamentary election, a Ukrainian newspaper has reported quoting a Moldovan expert. The author said that Moscow began to lose trust in President Vladimir Voronin after the Communists failed to produce evidence of Romanian involvement in the disturbances that followed the election on 5 April.
The Communist authorities in Moldova were losing Russia’s support even ahead of the 29 July early parliamentary election, a Ukrainian newspaper has reported quoting a Moldovan expert. The author said that Moscow began to lose trust in President Vladimir Voronin after the Communists failed to produce evidence of Romanian involvement in the disturbances that followed the election on 5 April. He also suggested that the Communist Party had falsely reported that Voronin had had a bilateral meeting with Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev in Moscow on 18 July. The following is the text of the article by Dmitriy Krylov, entitled "The end for Voronin and the Communist Party of the Republic of Moldova", published in the Ukrainian newspaper Kiyevskiy Telegraf on 8 August, subheadings have been inserted editorially:
Moscow, Brussels and Washington have in recent days begun to give preference to the Democratic Party of Moldova (Marian Lupu’s DPM), the Liberal-Democratic Party of Moldova (Vladimir Filat’s LDPM), the party Alliance Moldova Nostrea (Serafin Urekyan’s AMN) and the Social-Democratic Party (Dumitru Bragis and Vasiliy Tarlev’s SDP). That is what many experts believe. The first to become aware of the lack of prospects for cooperating with the Communists were representatives from the EU. The events of 7 and 8 April showed them that all the Communists talk about democracy and observing human rights was nothing but a bluff. [President Vladimir] Voronin left the police in the 1990s, but the policeman lives in him as before.
EU officials on the highest level made is perfectly clear that they see no prospects in Moldova for Voronin or the Communist Party of the Republic of Moldova (CPRM).
The turn in relations between the United States and the Communists in Moldova began with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s famous letter to Moldovan President Voronin. Experts noted not just the text of this letter, which was plainly laced with dissatisfaction over how democracy is developing in Moldova, but also that not one single Communist newspaper reprinted the letter.
As far as Russia is concerned, Moscow continued to believe the Moldovan president for a long time. Moscow believed that the events of 7 April had a "Romanian footprint". And that the placing of the Romanian flag on the roof of the presidency worked to favour that version. The Russians believed that after these events Voronin and the CPRM were supported by over 80 per cent of voters and that there was no doubt he would win the election. They also believed that the opposition parties were anti-Russian and ill with Russophobia.
Russia catches on
But time passed and many secret things became clear. No-one found any Romanian footprint in the events of 7 April. Moreover, it became known that representatives from among the Communists allowed the looters into parliament. And it was they who allowed people no-one knows anything about to raise the flag of a foreign state above the presidential offices. Naturally, one asks the questions: why did they do this?
It also became clear that the ban on speaking in the Russian language in pre-election debates did not come from the opposition, but from the Communists. People recalled that the initiative on the ban on teaching some subjects in institutions of higher education in the Russian language, which became law, was also forwarded by the Communists. They are the ones who voted for it in parliament.
As far as the unionist with Romania and Russophobe nature of the opposition, with the exception of some marginal politicians who are not running for parliament, not one of the serious members of the Moldovan opposition is talking about any desire to unite with any other state or even making any Russophobic statements.
Doubts also cropped up around the figures cited by the Communist leader Voronin that 80 per cent of voters were ready to vote for the CPRM. Polls gave the Communists from 29 to 31 per cent. At the election on 29 July, the CPRM earned over 44 per cent of the vote – editor.
Communist myths began popping one after the other and PR-managers in the CPRM began inventing new myths. They began to try to convince society that a trans-national mafia was trying to fight the Communists in Moldova. At one Communist news conference, Anatoliy Chubais was called the head of this "black force".
Of course, Mr Chubais is used to attacks, but still he’s never been to such "heights" as the head of the Communist Party of Moldova raised him.
Faltering ratings
Russia could certainly not help but notice all of this. And the fact that [Russian] President [Dmitriy] Medvedev did not find time during his informal summit to meet his Moldovan colleague speaks volumes. Voronin’s PR managers understood that well and so they invented the meeting.
This is how the situation is described by a well-known Moldovan expert, the director of the Moldovan Social-Democratic Institute, Bogdan Tirdea, on a popular Russian website. Commentary by the Russian news agency is also interesting as are the examples it gives of "Voronin’s other meetings".
Bogdan Tirdea writes that this is not the first time Voronin has spoken of meeting heads of state when such meetings in fact did not take place. "Statements by the press service of the president of Moldova about an alleged meeting between the leader of the CPRM, Vladimir Voronin, and Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev, which the Kremlin does not confirm, is not the first time the Moldovan authorities have spoken of alleged meetings with heads of state which in fact never occurred," he said on 21 July in an interview with a correspondent from the news agency Regnum Novosti.
The expert believes this only goes further in undercutting the authority of officials and the state on the international arena. "But there is an explanation for this fact. The latest poll by Barometer of Public Opinion showed that the CPRM’s rating has dropped to 31 per cent and that means the Communists could lose power and go into opposition. In part, the CPRM’s rating is faltering due to worsening relations with neighbours, foremost, Romania and the EU. And this is forcing the authorities into a fever in trying to find outside support," Tirdea noted.
He said that in order to fix its faltering rating the early parliamentary election took place on 29 July, the CPRM needs "three outside whales", namely:
– A meeting with [Russian Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin, preferably on t he Dniester settlement and a solution to some daily problem: the running of trains, mutual recognition of documents, diplomas and so forth;
– Obtaining a loan from China for 1bn dollars to develop infrastructure. If the CPRM manages to achieve this before the election, then its rating could be boosted by 1 to 2 per cent; and
– A meeting with a high-placed official or politician from the EU or the United States (with EU Chair Jose Manuel Barroso, Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis or Javier Solana) with a promise of support for Moldova.
"And so the authorities should, and probably will, work in this direction. After all, whether or not the CPRM stays at the helm of the country or is replaced by the opposition depends on this", Tirdea said, summing up his comments.
Invented meetings
We remind the reader that on 18 July, according to a news report from the press office of the Moldovan President, Vladimir Voronin completed a "working visit" to Moscow. The press service of the leader of the Moldovan state confirmed that the leader of the CPRM, Vladimir Voronin, acting as president of the country, met the head of the Russian state, Dmitriy Medvedev. At the same time, the Kremlin’s press centre did not announce any alleged bilateral meeting between the president of Russia and the leader of the Moldovan Communists. The Russian president’s press service did state that on 18 July Dmitriy Medvedev held a bilateral meeting with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev and with Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon. Later a statement was issued that there was a trilateral meeting between Dmitriy Medvedev and the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev. The only mentioned of Vladimir Voronin’s "working visit" to Moscow was his being cited in a list of individuals present at the Russian President’s Prize horse-race and on a photograph by the Kremlin press service in which Voronin is reading a menu and sitting at the same table as the heads of CIS members states.
Here is it worth pointing out that on 29 January 2008, the Moldovan president’s press service stated that on 28 January, Vladimir Voronin completed a "working visit" to Bulgaria, where he met his Bulgarian counterpart, Georgi Purvanov. At the same time, neither the Bulgarian president’s press service nor Bulgarian journalists mentioned anything about the alleged 28 January 2008 "working visit" by the president of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin, to Sofia. The Moldovan state press service declined to offer any official comment on the issue at the time. The same thing happened in January 2007. Then the Moldovan president’s press service stated that the head of Moldova "made a one-day visit to Sofia at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Georgi Purva nov". However, the press service of the Bulgarian leader noted that they knew nothing of the visit by Voronin to Sofia and denied that the two presidents met. In the end, the Bulgarian and Moldovan press reported that Vladimir Voronin really did visit Bulgaria and did so on a private – hunting – trip.
The president of Moldova has a good life. Hunting in Bulgaria, horse-racing in Moscow and fishing at the summer house in Kondritsa…
But let us get back to the position of Russia, the EU and the United States. Judging from the interest with they are beginning to show some of the Moldovan political parties mentioned at the beginning of the article, they are happy that these parties, in contrast to the Communists, are not trying to play on the contradictions which still exist between Russia, the EU and the United States, and are not trying to get the East and West to fight over Moldova.
And they tie progress in Moldova to these parties…
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
Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Natalia Gavrilita, together with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicu Popescu, pay an official visit to Brussels, between September 27-28, being invited by High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles.
Today, Prime Minister had a meeting with Charles Michel, President of the European Council. The Moldovan PM thanked the senior European official for the support of the institution in strengthening democratic processes, reforming the judiciary and state institutions, economic recovery and job creation, as well as increasing citizens’ welfare. Natalia Gavrilita expressed her confidence that the current visit laid the foundations for boosting relations between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union, so that, in the next period, it would be possible to advance high-level dialogues on security, justice and energy. Officials also exchanged views on priorities for the Eastern Partnership Summit, to be held in December.
“The EU is open to continue to support the Republic of Moldova and the ambitious reform agenda it proposes. Moldova is an important and priority partner for us,” said Charles Michel.
Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita also met with Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for Economy, expressing her gratitude for the support received through the OMNIBUS macro-financial assistance program. The two officials discussed the need to advance the recovery of money from bank fraud, to strengthen sustainable mechanisms for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in Moldova, and to standardize the customs and taxes as one of the main conditions for deepening cooperation with the EU in this field.
Additionally, Prime Minister spoke about the importance of the Eastern Partnership and the Deep Free Trade Agreement, noting that the Government’s policies are aimed at developing an economic model aligned with the European economic model, focused on digitalization, energy efficiency and the green economy.
A common press release of the Moldovan Prime Minister with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission, Josep Borrell Fontelles, took place today, where the agenda of Moldova’s reforms and the main priorities to focus on in the coming months were presented: judiciary reform; fighting COVID-19 pandemic; promoting economic recovery and conditions for growth and job creation; strengthening state institutions and resilience of the country.
“I am here to relaunch the dialogue between my country and the European Union. Our partnership is strong, but I believe there is room for even deeper cooperation and stronger political, economic and sectoral ties. I am convinced that this partnership is the key to the prosperity of our country and I hope that we will continue to strengthen cooperation.”
The Moldovan delegation met Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice. Tomorrow, there are scheduled common meetings with Oliver Varhelyi, European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Adina Valean, European Commissioner for Transport and Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy.
Prime Minister will also attend a public event, along with Katarina Mathernova, Deputy Director-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.
Photo: gov.md
Politics
Promo-LEX about Maia Sandu’s UN speech: The president must insist on appointing a rapporteur to monitor the situation of human rights in Transnistria
The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, pays an official visit to New York, USA, between September 21-22. There, she participates in the work of the United Nations General Assembly. According to a press release of the President’s Office, the official will deliver a speech at the tribune of the United Nations.
In this context, the Promo-LEX Association suggested the president to request the appointment of a special rapporteur in order to monitor the situation of human rights in the Transnistrian region. According to Promo-LEX, the responsibility for human rights violations in the Transnistrian region arises as a result of the Russian Federation’s military, economic and political control over the Tiraspol regime.
“We consider it imperative to insist on the observance of the international commitments assumed by the Russian Federation regarding the withdrawal of the armed forces and ammunition from the territory of the country,” the representatives of Promo-LEX stated. They consider the speech before the UN an opportunity “to demand the observance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the Russian Federation with reference to this territory which is in its full control.”
“It is important to remember about the numerous cases of murder, torture, ill-treatment, forced enlistment in illegal military structures, the application of pseudo-justice in the Transnistrian region, all carried out under the tacit agreement of the Russian Federation. These findings stem from dozens of rulings and decisions issued by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that Russia is responsible for human rights violations in the region.”
The association representatives expressed their hope that the president of the country would give priority to issues related to the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region and would call on relevant international actors to contribute to guaranteeing fundamental human rights and freedoms throughout Moldova.
They asked Maia Sandu to insist on the observance of the obligation to evacuate the ammunition and the military units of the Russian Federation from the territory of the Republic of Moldova, to publicly support the need for the Russian Federation to implement the ECtHR rulings on human rights violations in the Transnistrian region, and to request the appointment of an UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur to monitor the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova.
**
The Promo-LEX Association concluded that 14 out of 25 actions planned within the National Action Plan for the years 2018–2022 concerning respecting human rights in Transnistria were not carried out by the responsible authorities.
The association expressed its concern and mentioned that there are a large number of delays in the planned results. “There is a lack of communication and coordination between the designated institutions, which do not yet have a common vision of interaction for the implementation of the plan.”
Promo-LEX requested the Government of the Republic of Moldova to re-assess the reported activities and to take urgent measures, “which would exclude superficial implementation of future activities and increase the level of accountability of the authorities.”
Photo: peacekeeping.un.org
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