The NATO summit is taking place in the Spanish capital these days, with most of the discussions focused on the situation around Ukraine and the expansion of the Alliance’s presence in Eastern Europe. The words sounding in Madrid from high rostrums leave no doubt about the West’s intention to further deepen the conflict with Russia, drawing new states into the orbit of its influence. One of such countries is Moldova, to which cooperation with NATO promises nothing good
The process of development and expansion of military-political cooperation of Moldova with EU and NATO and the country’s refusal of the principle of neutrality has already led to almost full curtailment of the Russian-Moldavian relations.
The result of this was the severance of the remaining cooperative ties, as well as negative consequences for the Moldovan economy in the form of loss of markets for Moldovan agricultural products, the ruin of their producers and significant overall damage to the country’s economy. Another result of the Russophobic policy was a sharp increase in the price of Russian natural gas supplied to Moldova, which in turn led to higher prices for food products and other goods.
The rejection of full-fledged and comprehensive cooperation with Russia also increased the contradictions within Moldovan society and significantly complicated the Transdniestrian settlement process, casting doubt on even the theoretical possibility of reaching any agreement between the two banks of the Dniester.
This anti-Russian course became especially obvious after Maia Sandu became president of Moldova and the parliamentary majority was formed by the pro-European PAS party that supports her.
At the same time, under the slogan of “European integration”, a dictatorial regime was formed in the country, which grossly violated the foundations of the rule of law and the fundamental freedoms of citizens.
This was expressed first and foremost in the de facto introduction of censorship, which declared as disinformation any point of view that did not coincide with the opinion of the authorities. This primarily concerns the coverage in the Moldovan media of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, where only one interpretation of events – the Ukrainian one – is allowed. The re-broadcasting of Russian news and analytical programmes and even feature films about the Great Patriotic War is prohibited by law in the Republic.
The whole historical period is being purposefully reformatted in the country, and this is being done with the sole aim of changing the mentality of the population.
These efforts are not casual: according to the sociological researches carried out in May 2022, no more than 25% of the Moldavians support accession of the country to NATO.
The overwhelming majority of the population of Moldova – 85 % – fears transfer of hostilities from Ukraine to the territory of their republic. Thus, despite all efforts of internal Moldavian censorship and external western propaganda, 55 % of the interrogated consider that Russia is at war not with Ukraine, but with the collective West and the North Atlantic alliance.
Obviously, the Moldovan army does not represent a real fighting unit that could strengthen NATO, but as another piece of “cannon fodder” in addition to the Ukrainian one, and as another point of tension for Russia, Moldova could well play its part for the West. In the Global Firepower Index 2022, the Moldovan army is ranked 104th in the Global Firepower Index, while the AFU is in 22nd place.
Moldova is increasingly drawn into the NATO orbit, and the NATO summit in Madrid will be another milestone for Moldova’s subjugation.
“We will deepen cooperation with NATO’s closest partners and adopt new support packages for our partners, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Moldova”, – Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a briefing before the three-day summit that opened on June 28.
There is every reason to believe that Moldova is being prepared “for slaughter”. The close cooperation between Presidents Maia Sandu and Vladimir Zelensky leaves no doubt about the highest level of coordination between them. They have repeatedly demonstrated the unity of their positions on a variety of issues, including Transnistria. This region, which has not been controlled by the Chisinau authorities for 30 years, is a full-fledged State, despite the fact that it remains unrecognized.
Tranquillity and peace on the Dniester is maintained through the presence of a Russian peacekeeping contingent there, a fact that is very irritating to both Chisinau and Kiev.
Transnistria, where more than 200 thousand citizens of the Russian Federation reside, is a “red line” and an attack on this region would cause an imminent and immediate response of the Russian army. However, from the legal point of view, an attack on Transnistria by the AFU would be an aggression against Moldova, and it is not possible without the approval of the Chisinau authorities.
But first of all, it is necessary to obtain approval from the Western supervisors. It has already been officially recognised that the AFU is in fact led by American and European military advisers. A similar situation is observed in the Moldovan National Army, where US officers sit in the Defence Ministry. Thus, the decision-making centres are not at all in Kiev and Chisinau, which are only assigned the role of executors of other people’s decisions, and meetings such as the Moldovan president’s visit to Kiev on 27 June are rather acts of coordination.
The fact that Sandu and Zelenski needed a meeting to “synchronize their watches” suggests even more that in the near future we should expect the aggravation of the situation not only in Ukraine, but also near Moldova and possibly inside the republic itself.
At the same time, the leader of Transnistria, Vadim Krasnoselsky believes that “no matter how difficult it is, we should talk about peace and not about war in Transnistria. An escalation of the conflict would be fatal not only for Transnistria, but also for its neighbours, and even for those behind the neighbours”.
In assessing the situation that is emerging in the post-Soviet space, it is possible to divide the former Soviet Union republics into two groups: those that continue the tradition of cooperation and friendly relations with the Russian Federation and those that are “stolen” and have come under the influence of the Western centres – Washington, London and Brussels.
At the same time, their newfound “masters” find this state of affairs absolutely normal and only shrug their shoulders – “what is so criminal about it”? However, Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine demonstrates that the process has been reversed and Moscow is now restoring its influence in those territories of the former Soviet Union, control over which is vital for it and serves as a guarantee of its own security.
Maxim Kamererer, Rubaltic.ru
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