And thanked Russia for the help
The tumultuous election campaign in Belarus has pushed the problems of other fragments of the former USSR to the background. Meanwhile, in small Moldova, an event is planned, no less fateful and important for Russian interests than the elections in Minsk. The presidential elections will take place there on November 1. Igor Dodon, on whom Moscow has high hopes, will have to reaffirm his mandate to govern the state. Or leave the stage …
On the eve of these events on August 7, the Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Russia, Andrei Neguta, told reporters in Moscow about the state of Russian-Moldovan relations. Many topics were touched upon: the coronavirus epidemic, and economic and cultural cooperation. The ambassador also touched upon the topic of elections, frankly admitting: it will be difficult.
“There will be very difficult elections. – said the ambassador. “We are grateful to Russia for being ready to help us with the opening of polling stations on the territory of the Russian Federation.” Plots are very important. After all, there is a huge number of Moldovan guest workers in Russia who have come to work. They need to be able to vote. This is also in the interests of Russia. It is unlikely that people who make money in the Russian Federation will vote for someone who opposes Russian-Moldovan cooperation …
Russia helps Moldova. In particular, in the fight against coronavirus. Back in March, Moscow sent tests for Covid-19 to Chisinau, and also helped deliver 40 tons of humanitarian aid from China to the republic. Negutsa spoke about his recent meeting with the president of the Research Institute of Emergency Pediatric Surgery and Traumatology Leonid Roshal. I recently met with Leonid Roshal. He expressed his readiness to help, and at the beginning of September 15 doctors from Moldova will arrive at the invitation of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation for courses on the treatment of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the situation with the coronavirus in Moldova, according to the ambassador, is worse today than in neighboring Romania and Ukraine. The peculiarities of the local mentality have an effect. “After the emergency situation was lifted, people“ rushed to freedom ”, in Chisinau minibuses, which are designed for 10 people, 25 people drive each, breathe without masks on each other”. Residents of Moldova are staging 2 protests over the closure of fitness centers and markets. Bottom line: on the evening of August 6, there were 828 deaths in the country. Moreover, the main source of infection was not visitors from Russia and Italy, but local hospitals. “About 600 Moldovan doctors are sick today. This is a very large figure for us. ” – said the diplomat. He also cited the following figure: in the republic today, 134 children under one year old are infected.
The ambassador spoke about the state of economic ties between our countries. On July 31, 2014, by a decree of the government of the Russian Federation, import customs duties were introduced for 19 groups of goods from Moldova. The reason for this is the signing of an Association Agreement with the EU. The agreement on a visa-free regime, according to the diplomat, played a positive role. Today, the biometric passport of Moldova opens about 140 countries. However, Russia fears that there will be a re-export of Moldovan goods received from Europe to the territory of the Russian Federation.
“But we are gradually moving away from this resolution. – told Negutsa. – Within three years, customs duties were canceled on five commodity groups: vegetables, fruits, canned vegetables and fruit, wine. And since June 1, the 6th position has been added here – sunflower seeds ”.
The ambassador recalled that on June 24, Igor Dodon, together with the Moldovan military, came to the Victory Parade in Moscow:
“75 of our soldiers marched proudly on 24 June. We are proud of this. All the healthy ones arrived, the healthy ones left. Moldova was presented beautifully. The President presented each of them with a certificate of honor. Let them have a memory for the rest of their lives that they were in Moscow. “
We also talked about Transnistria. Recently, the 7th meeting of President Igor Dodon and the head of Transnistria Vadim Krasnoselsky took place. “We want to quickly resolve these issues, but we are glad that we have not been shooting for a long time. – said the Ambassador of Moldova. – Of course, we cannot calmly hear that there is another state – Transnistria, and we need to find a common language between the two states. I am sure that you cannot put the question like that. Russia always says, for which we are grateful to it, that it is necessary to resolve the issues of Moldova with the Transnistrian region ”.
In general, the diplomat noted that relations between the Russian Federation and Moldova are developing well. “If earlier the dialogue was conducted only at the level of presidents, now it is at the level of parliaments and prime ministers. The vector is good, the dynamics are good. “