The Sandu regime has begun a new phase of mopping up the politically active opposition. This time the U.S. ambassador to Moldova Kent Logsdon himself stepped into the game. The main target for the attacks was the Shor party
Sunday, the day on which the opposition traditionally holds mass protest rallies in the centre of Chisinau, was marked by the harshest and most aggressive police actions against protesters.
The route of the march of the “Shor” party column to the central square was blocked by a double police cordon. While trying to break the cordon, Orhei mayor Pavel Verejan, Orhei district chairman Dinu Turcanu and “Shor” honorary chairman, chairman of the Congress of Russian Communities of Moldova Valery Climenco were detained, who was then taken from the police station by ambulance with a heart attack.
According to reliable sources, police officers from Romania were involved in the action.
These scenes of brutality provoked angry reactions from other opposition political forces. In a statement, the Socialist Party demanded that the Interior Ministry “provide information regarding those police officers who gave the orders that provoked the unjustified violence against peaceful protesters.
The socialists also called on the General Prosecutor’s Office of Moldova “to make a legal assessment of the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Moldova and the actions of the police officers who used such measures against the protesters”.
The next day, the mentioned Ambassador Logsdon made another briefing, during which he informed that the US Department of Treasury had put 9 persons and 22 organizations from Moldova and Russia on the US sanctions list, including Ilan Shor and Vlad Plahotniuc who are accused of hijacking and bribing political and economic institutions in Moldova.
Along with Shor, his wife, Russian singer Sara Shor, known under the pseudonym Jasmine, has been put on the sanctions list.
“I am proud of my husband in the first place, sanctions in the second,” she stated.
In addition, Ilan Shore is accused of “supporting Russia’s efforts to undermine democracy in the Republic of Moldova”. The list also included Russian businessman Igor Chayka, as well as political technologists Leonid Gonin, Olga Grac and Yuri Gudilin, who appear as advisers to former president Igor Dodon.
The American ambassador said that the US does not interfere in Moldova’s domestic politics, but expressed the hope that the authorities in Chisinau “will take into account the decision of the US Treasury Department and will act in accordance with the provisions of the national legislation.
The unprecedented impudence of the American ambassador has forced Ilan Shore to call for declaring Kent Logsdon persona non grata in Moldova. No Moldovan politician, including Presidents Vladimir Voronin and Igor Dodon, had previously allowed such statements against US diplomats.
“These statements humiliated Moldova and its citizens. Yesterday, the US ambassador did not hesitate to give clear instructions to Maia Sandu and PAS officials on what to do and how to do it. Dear Mr. Ambassador, in our understanding, you crossed all the norms and limits of diplomatic relations yesterday.
You cannot behave like that in a foreign country. You are not at home and you have forgotten this. We demand the US ambassador to Moldova to be declared persona non grata with regards to yesterday’s statements. And even if this yellow junta does not do it, we will do it – right after coming to power,” said Ilan Shor.
The events taking place in Moldova have further radicalized the Moldovan society. It happens against the background of the energy crisis: the Moldovan and Transnistrian representatives have not agreed upon the gas and electricity deliveries. The government decided to buy electricity from Romania at a price several times higher than that of Transnistria.
The National Energy Regulatory Agency announced a new electricity tariff of 4.77 lei (15 rubles) per kilowatt instead of the current 3.15 lei. This is already the fourth (!) increase in the price of energy since the beginning of the year. At the same time, President Maia Sandu, speaking on a Romanian channel, said:
“This is the price we can pay. Even if it is a bit higher than what our consumers were paying a few months ago. But this is the price we want to continue paying”.
Dumitru Alaiba, a member of her team known for his zoological hatred of Russia, spoke even more harshly:
“We’ll freeze for the winter if we have to. We’ll sit in the dark longer if necessary. Let us pay the price of freedom. And let the Kremlin burst with envy.
At the time of writing, the Shor Party was holding a rally outside the ANRE building. Protests are set to increase. All negativity from Sandu’s regime will inevitably spill over to the U.S., which gives it support and patronage.
Alexei Logofet, Chisinau, PolitNavigator Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)