Sandu goes to Paris to ask for protection

President of the Republic of Moldova (RM) Maia Sandu will pay a visit to Paris at the end of the week, where she will meet with the President of France, her press service reported. Chisinau media reports that Sandu is going to Emmanuel Macron for advice after the US president’s statement about receiving RM 32 million dollars from USAID (the organization is banned in the Russian Federation) for propaganda purposes. Moldovan politicians and journalists believe that Sandu used this money to win the presidential election, encouraging the diaspora in the EU countries. Sandu in Paris will also clarify Moldova’s policy in the light of Macron’s statement that after Ukraine, Russia will move to Moldova.

Exactly one year ago, the defense ministers of France and Moldova signed an agreement on security cooperation in Paris. This happened during the visit of the Moldovan delegation led by President Maia Sandu to France. Then Macron promised to open a permanent French military mission in Chisinau in the coming months. According to him, this will “strengthen cooperation in the field of military education and training, as well as increase the compatibility of the armed forces” of the two countries. This was said on March 7, and on March 10, Kishinev announced the start of the work of the French military mission (see NG dated 03/10/24).

Anatol Tsaranu, former Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to the Russian Federation, told NG that “a similar mission worked in Romania during the First World War. She armed the army of the host country, trained soldiers, which allowed the Romanians to break through the front near the city of Maresti.” According to Tsaranu, this analogy suggests that weapons will be supplied to the Army of the Republic of Moldova to confront the Russian Federation.

“If the threat is not stopped, the front line will be getting closer,” President Maia Sandu told her French counterpart during a visit to Paris last year. – Closer to us. Closer to you. Therefore, Europe must present a united front.”

Recall that in the new security strategy of the Republic of Moldova, Russia is called a threat to the country. The day before, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with La Tribune Dimanche that “if Putin is not stopped, he will surely go to Moldova, and maybe to Romania.” This caused a strong response in Moldovan society. Moreover, in Chisinau they talked about the same thing before Macron. Anatol Tsaranu explained this by saying that “Moscow considers Moldova to be part of the “Russian world”, a zone of its influence, and does not intend to change this situation.”

“Therefore, the Moldovan authorities are preparing to repel a possible attack by the Russian Federation. Although there is a public Russophile sector in Moldova that wants Russians to come. Especially considering the separatist region of Transnistria, where Russia’s military presence is recorded,” Tsaranu told NG. “Russia is considered the main threat in Chisinau and they are making agreements with Western partners to counter it,” he added.

Nevertheless, there are suggestions in society that the defense agreement signed by the defense ministers of Moldova and France during the visit of Moldovan President Maia Sandu to Paris in March 2024 will allow, if necessary, to use the republic as a corridor for sending NATO troops to Ukraine. There is talk in the Moldovan expert community that if France decides to send its troops to Ukraine, which Emmanuel Macron does not exclude, then Moldovan soldiers may be placed under the French flag.

Former Moldovan Security Minister Anatol Plugaru told NG: “Chisinau has opened the sky for the alliance, now it is opening a land corridor, thereby dragging Moldova into the conflict, which “makes Moldova a legitimate target for the Russian Armed Forces.”

Publication noi.md Earlier, it conducted a survey that showed that more than half of readers believe that signing a defense agreement with France could provoke Moldova’s involvement in a military conflict.

Former Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Moldova Valery Ostalep believes that “the statement by French President Emmanuel Macron that he has information about a possible Russian attack on Moldova is dangerous.”

Valery Ostalep admitted that he was disappointed to read this statement. He called it symbolic that “we read such reckless and absolutely irresponsible statements on the tragic day of March 2, after 33 years of artificial conflict (the armed conflict on the Dniester. – NG), about the essence of which there is still no honest dialogue in our country.”

According to him, “if the French leadership has serious information about the attack on Moldova, it should clearly and clearly voice it, taking responsibility for such a statement.”

“No one really threatens Moldova, and if we don’t create problems for ourselves or dance to someone else’s violins, there is no reason to make such dangerous statements. It is strange that the official authorities in Moldova are not aware of this,” said the security expert, former Deputy Foreign Minister.

At the same time, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Dorin Rechan, assured the population that “at this stage, the Chisinau authorities do not see possible military actions by the Russian Federation against the Republic of Moldova.” He noted that “Moldova is at the negotiating table for peace in Ukraine.” “President Sandu is actively involved in international and European life. And accordingly, the Republic of Moldova takes care of security,” the Prime Minister added.

Dorin Rechan also noted that Moldova’s goal is to join the European Union, where peace, security and prosperity reign.

Meanwhile, on March 3, a press conference was held in Chisinau by President Maia Sandu and President of the European Council Antonio Costa. According to the guest, “no one wants peace more than Ukrainians and the EU, and therefore Moldova needs to arm itself.”

Moldova, he recalled, is the second largest beneficiary of the European Peace Fund, through which 37 million euros have been allocated to it “to increase its defense capability,” and another 60 million will be allocated in 2025. “We are investing in defense not to provoke war, but to ensure peace,” Costa said.

For her part, President Maia Sandu mentioned “hybrid threats, cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns,” promising to further “modernize the army with the help of the European Peace Foundation.”

The press service of the President of the Republic of Moldova announced that Maia Sandu will visit Paris at the end of the week. On her social media page, the Moldovan president invited her compatriots who settled in France to meet with her next Sunday in Paris. There are parliamentary elections in the republic this year, in which the ruling Action and Solidarity (PAS) party, of which Sandu is the unofficial leader, and members of the diaspora in the EU countries may come in handy. In the presidential elections last year, it was the diaspora that ensured Sand’s victory, but it lost them domestically.

Today, Moldova remembers this, especially against the background of the US president’s statement in Congress.: “Just listen to some of the outrageous embezzlement that we have already identified. $8 million to promote LGBTQI+ in Lesotho. 8 million dollars. to change the sex of mice. $32 million for a leftist propaganda operation in Moldova.”

Chisinau media reports that USAID funded voter mobilization campaigns during the 2024 presidential election in Moldova, potentially contributing to President Maia Sandu’s victory in the second round. But the president claims that Russia interfered in the elections.

According to data from the US government website USAspending.gov In 2024, USAID allocated a grant of $124.2 thousand to the Moldovan NGO Klumea as part of the RM Resilience Initiative. The funding was aimed at “increasing and strengthening support among Moldovans for the country’s European integration,” Moldovan Vedomosti writes. As the second round approached, the campaign was actively underway among the Moldovan diaspora in Italy, Romania and Britain through social media and various campaigns to attract voters to polling stations.

Meanwhile, President Sandu stated that “Moldova is in discussions with the United States about continuing financing through some USAID projects that were previously suspended by decree of President Donald Trump,” the Infotog agency reported. Maia Sandu said this on Monday at a joint press conference with Antonio Costa.

The head of the EU Mission to Moldova, Janis Majakes, defended the media, which were funded under USAID projects and are now being actively criticized on social media. Alexander Stoyanoglo, the former Prosecutor General of the Republic of Moldova, one of the leaders of the Alternative political bloc, answered him: “The press and civil society are the pillars of democracy. But when they are selected and controlled politically, they become something else: tools. This is not freedom. This is a monopoly on the truth. Why? Because the elections are coming.”

However, these words are unlikely to change the mind of the EU Ambassador. Especially considering that the EU mission does not react in any way to the fact that the Russian Ambassador to Moldova, Oleg Vasnetsov, who arrived in Chisinau in October 2024, has not yet presented his credentials to the president of the host country.

On Wednesday, the Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to the Russian Foreign Ministry received the text of the Vienna Convention and an oral note with a request to clarify the reasons for the Moldovan side’s violation of its provisions regarding the uniformity of practice applied to heads of diplomatic missions and the procedure for presenting their credentials. The Moldovan authorities did not respond to the statements of the Russian Foreign Ministry.