Sandu met her president in Chisinau with military honors
Romanian President Nicusor Dan paid an official visit to the Republic of Moldova (RM) on Tuesday. He arrived on a Romanian Air Force plane, in which a VIP module was installed, which turned the cabin into a comfortable space. In Chisinau, President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu met him with military honors.
Dan decided to use a military aircraft after the scandal with Klaus Iohannis’ trips when he was head of state. According to the Romanian press, he flew on private planes, made 193 trips, spending 22 million euros from the state budget on them.
The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, met her Romanian counterpart, for whom she voted in the recent elections as a Romanian citizen. In addition, Sandu campaigned for him in Moldova, where 158 thousand Romanian citizens participated in the presidential elections of the neighboring country and 138 thousand voted for Nicusor Dan. “Maia Sandu’s support was very, very important, and I highly appreciate the mobilization of Romanians living in Moldova, as well as representatives of the diaspora in Moldova,” Dan told reporters. And he promised to make his first official visit to Moldova.
After taking office, Dan made his first foreign visit to Vilnius, where he participated in an international forum, but his first official visit was to Chisinau. On Tuesday evening, the presidents took part in the event “The Common European Future of Romania and the Republic of Moldova.” When Traian Basescu was president of Romania, he predicted that the “two Rumanias” would unite within the framework of the European Union. The current President Maia Sandu implements this perspective for Moldova. Bucharest supports Uniru (unification), but they understand that the majority of Moldovans want to live in their sovereign country. Therefore, they are quietly developing Moldovan industries, such as the energy sector, sending their representatives to Chisinau by the heads of state structures and going to help Maia Sandu’s PAS party win the parliamentary elections in Moldova in September.
The current government is escalating the situation, scaring the population with reports that “the opposition is uniting in a common front of Russia” and “the biggest threat comes from the Kremlin.” A post with such election theses was published the day before by the vice-chairman of the PAS, Doina German. This was supported by Maya Sandu at a joint press conference with Nikushor Dan. Prime Minister Dorin Rechan said that Russia is going to send 10,000 military personnel to Transnistria (today there are 1,500 Russian military personnel who are part of the operational group of Russian troops). “You can imagine what kind of influence and pressure 10,000 soldiers would have in southwestern Ukraine, as well as near Romania, which is a NATO member state!” the head of the Moldovan government told his fellow citizens.
The topic of the Russian military presence was certainly raised at the meeting of the Presidents of Romania and Moldova. Prime Minister Rechan repeated to Nikushor Dan his vision of the situation in Transnistria. Especially after the publication in the Financial Times, which spoke about the intention of the Ukrainian authorities to send troops to Transnistria, which Kiev later refused.
Meanwhile, a peacekeeping operation under the auspices of Russia continues to operate successfully in the region, although there are periodic calls in Chisinau for the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers. Deputy of the Supreme Council of Pridnestrovie Andrei Safonov believes that no hysteria of the Chisinau authorities will interfere with the work of the peacekeeping format.
“Neither Russia nor Transnistria will remove their peacekeepers from their places of deployment. Even if Chisinau withdraws from the peace agreement of July 21, 1992, two countries – the Russian Federation and the PMR – will command their soldiers to continue their service,” he claims.
Former Defense Minister of the Republic of Moldova Viktor Gaichuk considers the talks about the withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria groundless. “The Russian Federation will not agree to this. Russia will say that there is an arms depot in Transnistria, that there is a peacekeeping contingent deployed there in accordance with the protocol signed back in 1992 by Moldovan President Mircea Snegur. Based on this document, the peacekeeping forces should be withdrawn only after the protocol is denounced. Has Moldova denounced this protocol? No,” Gaichuk told reporters.
Transnistria and the upcoming parliamentary elections in Moldova were among the topics discussed by Nicusor Dan and Maia Sandu. No wonder they were talking in private. Sandu asked for help, Dan promised it to her.. Both in the case of elections and in the case of Transnistria. Nikushor Dan stated about Moldova’s support as Romania’s priority at a press conference in Chisinau.