The head of European diplomacy visits Chisinau and meets with the Government of the country, which receives the first installment of international humanitarian aid
Is Moldova Putin’s Next Target? For days international diplomacy has been clear: if the expansionist ambitions of the Kremlin are not curbed, this small ex-Soviet country, with just 2.6 million inhabitants (also Georgia) can be engulfed. And also following a pattern similar to that of the Ukraine. Using as an excuse the latent conflict that exists between Chisnau (the country’s capital) and its autonomous separatist territory of Transnistria, which is mostly Russian-speaking.
Already on February 24, Moscow released a statement announcing its intention to carry out “military maneuvers” in that region. And this Tuesday the video that a Belarusian journalist posted on Telegram, after the celebration of a security council in Minsk, showed Alexander Lukashenko pointing on a map which, according to the British media ‘The Independent’, revealed a future strategy : the movement of Russian troops from Odessa to Moldova.
The Government has been aware of the vulnerability of its territory since the very day of the invasion of its neighbor, when it declared a state of emergency. In front, Maia Sandu, 49, who studied at Harvard. She has been president of the country since December 2020, after beating her predecessor, Igor Dodon, in the elections, the candidate who explicitly had the full support of Moscow. An affront that the Russian autocrat would not have forgotten.
Brussels assumes the explosive situation that Moldova is facing. So the high representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, still in the wake of his brilliant speech on Tuesday in the European Parliament (“we will not change human rights for gas”, he launched forcefully), visited this Wednesday Chisinau to meet with Sandu in a clear gesture of support for the country that since the outbreak of the crisis has received 108,000 Ukrainian refugees, of which 51,000 would still be under its umbrella today, as confirmed by the Minister of the Interior, Ana Revenco. Borrell’s visit coincided, in fact, with the delivery of a first humanitarian aid package, such as food or tents.
“An expert mission is already in Chisinau to determine the needs and identify concrete support measures that are put into practice as soon as possible,” stressed the head of European diplomacy. Borrell also committed all EU coverage for Moldova to combat “disinformation” and cyber threats from Russia.
Borrell also pushed the button on Wednesday to expand the package of sanctions against the Lukashenko regime. Twenty-two high-ranking Belarusian military personnel, involved in planning the invasion of Ukraine. Also, new commercial restrictions. “Belarus’s participation in the current unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine will have a high price,” he said.
Topics
Josep Borrell Fontelles, Vladimir Putin, Belarus, Chisinau, Minsk, Moldova, Moscow, Russia, Ukraine, Refugee Drama, War in Ukraine
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