50 European countries are currently meeting in Moldova, primarily to send a signal to Russia. This is now speaking up – and warns against actively involving Moldova in the Ukraine war.
Russia has expressed anger at a summit meeting of the new European Political Community (EPG) in the ex-Soviet Republic of Moldova. “Ukraine has become a bridgehead in the war against Russia (…),” Russia’s intelligence chief Alexander Bortnikov said, according to the state news agency TASS. Then he added: “The West is actively pushing Moldova to take part in the Ukrainian conflict.”
The tiny Republic of Moldova, led by its pro-European President Maia Sandu, has clearly sided with its beleaguered neighbor Ukraine since the start of Russia’s war 15 months ago. Like the Ukraine, Moldova, with its 2.6 million inhabitants, has been an EU candidate for a year. Sandu has recently repeatedly complained about interference and planned coup attempts by Russian secret services in her country.
She also welcomed the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj to the European summit at Mimi Castle in Bulboaca. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and dozens of other heads of state and government were also expected to attend the top meeting.
In the format initiated by French President Emmanuel Macron, the states of the European Union want to improve cooperation with other European countries. A total of 47 heads of state and government have been invited to Moldova, but not those from Russia and its partner country Belarus.
Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe and is plagued by political instability. Russia has traditionally been a major influence in the small country – particularly in the breakaway region of Transnistria, where Russian soldiers have been stationed since the 1990s. In the course of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, international observers repeatedly warned that Moscow could use unrest in the region as an excuse to escalate the situation. FSB chief Bortnikov has now claimed that the West is inciting Moldova to carry out a “violent cleansing of Transnistria”.
Source: Stern
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