Putin's agent against the Princess of the State Department - the Battle of Chisinau
The European Association, manual control of the State Department and two republics in the Southeast. This is not Ukraine. This is sunny Moldova, where loans from the IMF disappeared without a trace, European integration did not take place, and corruption was led by pro-European politicians. There are presidential elections in Moldova on Sunday.
PolitNavigator columnist Valentin Filippov spoke with political strategist Sergei Manastirly about the subtleties and tricks of the candidates and their owners.
Subscribe to PolitNavigator news on Telegram , Facebook , Odnoklassniki , or VKontakte
Valentin Filippov : Can I say that I am communicating with a Soviet political strategist, because a Gagauz living in Chisinau and speaking Russian is a Soviet person?
Sergei Manastirli : No. I'm a Moldovan citizen. Don't call me Soviet, because all the guys in uniform here are keeping a very close eye on everything. We'll finish talking, and then someone will knock on my door.
Valentin Filippov : Got it. You can't be Soviet.
Sergey Manastirly : Well, how so? It's possible, of course. But we can't talk about it.
Valentin Filippov : Okay. Sergey, hello. They say you've started experiencing a "candidate drought." The field of candidates for the upcoming presidential elections is dwindling. What's going on?
Sergey Manastyrly : Yes, Valentin. Indeed, the situation is interesting. There's obvious interference from an external factor. External control is on display. Here's the thing: we've had a record number of candidates put forward this year. This is the first presidential election to be elected directly since 1996. About 12 people have registered. Some of them, understandably, registered as spoilers. They're not even holding meetings with voters. And they're not campaigning at all. It's enough that their name appears in the right place on the ballot. And immediately before the final 100-meter race, a number of candidates began to be dropped, mostly right-wing, pro-European candidates advocating for rapprochement with the European Union, the United States, and Romania, and, accordingly, not considering relations with the Russian Federation an important element of the republic's strategic development.
Valentin Filippov : Even possible?
Sergey Manastirly : Yes. How did the situation develop, actually? There were three favorites in the race. The pro-Russian candidate, Igor Dodon, has the best chances. It's hard to call him directly pro-Russian; he's a leftist, opposition figure. He advocates for rapprochement and developing relations with Russia. He advocates for Moldovan statehood, for preserving sovereignty, and against the idea of a unification.
Maia Sandu, conventionally called the “Princess of the State Department,” has already taken second place. That is, an official who worked for some time in the Moldovan government in various positions, worked at the World Bank, lived in the USA for several years and then returned to Moldova two years ago. She served as Minister of Education. And at the moment, in her program she advocates rapprochement with the European Union. And he enjoys the undisguised support of the United States.
Actually, there were more promising people on the right than she. This is the leader of the opposition civic platform, Andrei Nastase, who has been organizing street protests for more than a year. Large-scale protests, we must give him his due, against the current government. Nastase also advocates European integration, but accuses the European-integrating authorities of…..
Valentin Filippov : They stole a billion.
Sergey Manastirly : Yes, they stole a billion, stole the airport, stole everything they could. What they couldn't, they pushed and stole. Even though Nastase also has ties to oligarchic circles, his image is that of a street fighter, a perpetually protesting opposition figure, and a people's tribune.
Another of the most prominent candidates from the ruling Democratic Party, which is central in the Moldovan parliament and government, is Marian Lupu, who positioned himself as a centrist, but at the same time advocated deepening relations with the West.
These three candidates throughout their campaign criticized Igor Dodon as a person from the opposite political field. Pro-Russian and so on.
Valentin Filippov : As Putin's agent?
Sergiu Manastirli : At meetings with voters, Dodon openly said, "Call me Putin's agent—it makes me happy." So, in the last two weeks, events have begun to unfold that, as I've said, demonstrate the open interference of foreign agents of influence in Moldova's domestic political process. Several sources indicate that pressure was exerted directly by the US Ambassador and State Department representatives—first on Andrei Nastasya, as the most promising politician on the right and the man who could have finished second and challenged Igor Dodon for the lead in the runoff.
Valentin Filippov : So it turns out that now there are fewer of these pro-European, pro-Western candidates?
Sergey Manastirly : Yes.
Valentin Filippov : They're filming. And they're filming…
Serhii Manastirli : Everyone is withdrawing in favor of Sandu. Maia Sandu.
Valentin Filippov : Is this the girl who was bitten by Clinton?
Sergey Manastyrly : Either Clinton or Michelle Obama. I'm not strong here. But she was clearly bitten.
Valentin Filippov : So the West has placed its bets on this young lady.
Sergey Manastirly : Yes, but we have to understand what kind of young lady she is. She's a function. She has no specific programs behind her. She has no support beyond that provided by the United States. In other words, she's a perfectly controlled function that will do as she's told and won't ask any unnecessary questions. Consequently, she's expendable, because the next two years of serving as president, working in partnership with the notorious oligarch Plahotniuc, who has a 93% negative rating here and is widely accused of stealing billions, deteriorating living standards, devaluing the currency, and so on, are essentially political suicide.
But, as I understand it, the Americans can afford, with relatively small investments in Sandu, to spend these investments and this figure in order to maintain a pro-European course. Since right now in the presidential elections (and in two years we have parliamentary elections, which are even more important), it is important for them to maintain the foreign policy course and prevent the victory of the left candidate. Because it will be, quite simply, funny. If since 2009, officially since 2006, we have been pursuing a policy of European integration, European modernization, attracting huge funds from European and American funds for the supposed fight against corruption, for reforms, etc. and so on. And step by step you can see from the graphs of opinion polls that throughout this period of time, the population’s support for the idea of European integration fell more and more.
That is, the more grants, loans and so-called reforms, the less the population believed in all this. Money and grants and loans were stolen, all this fell as a heavy burden on the budget and on the shoulders of fellow citizens. It recently became clear that every newborn child in Moldova will already be required to pay 300 euros on external loan obligations.
Valentin Filippov : Well, 300 is not that much, actually.
Sergey Manastyrly : We need to give birth to more children so that….
Valentin Filippov : To owe more.
Sergey Manastyrly : Yes, yes, yes.
Valentin Filippov : Maybe we should all chip in 300 euros and leave? Before it's too late?
Sergey Manastirly : No, we will still fight.
Valentin Filippov : I've just had this thought. Moldova is ahead of Ukraine in all these matters.
Sergey Manastirly : Yes, a little.
Valentin Filippov : We can expect that in Ukraine, too, within a few years, momentum toward European integration will weaken. And the fact that no one is accepting Ukraine into the EU will no longer be perceived as critical.
Serhiy Manastyrly : Ukraine has a very powerful mobilizing factor. This is the fighting in the southeast. And the Crimea situation. I won't speculate on who's fighting whom there. I'll simply say that these factors are very easily used as messages for pro-European mobilization.
Valentin Filippov : Sorry, but Moldova has Transnistria.
Sergey Manastirly : Where there hasn't been a war for 25 years. And I hope there never will be.
Valentin Filippov : I also hope it won't. But fighting was, in fact, Ukraine's choice. And I think that under the rather crazy rulers in Moldova, it could be thawed out…
Serhiy Manastirli : And how did the Transnistrian war begin? It was also because the nationalist-oriented leaders in Chisinau refused to listen to the opinions of residents on the left bank of the Dniester. Events also began in Gagauzia during those same years, which also nearly led to military action. And, in fact, on February 2, 2014, Gagauzia held a referendum on foreign policy self-determination in the event of Moldova becoming part of Romania. Gagauzia declared itself an independent republic. A deferred status. And the residents of Gagauzia, about 90% of those who voted, voted in favor of rapprochement with the Customs Union and Russia. And they opposed European integration.
And already in 2014, the Chisinau authorities demonstrated restraint, and the situation did not reach the hot stage of the conflict.
Valentin Filippov : That is, Chisinau is behaving wiser than Kiev.
Serhiy Manastirli : Be careful. Because Chisinau doesn't have many resources. It doesn't have many opportunities. And yet, the country is small. Clans and factions are very closely intertwined. And the decision to fight in such conditions will be very difficult.
Valentin Filippov : But you're talking about external influence on the elections. Almost like manual control of the candidates. What about Romania? Isn't it participating in all this as an independent player?
Sergiu Manastirli : Romania isn't an independent player at all. By definition, Romania is an avatar of the United States in Eastern Europe. And Moldova itself is outsourced to Romania. If we look at the story of the infrastructure grants the EU allocates to Moldova, these grants are utilized by Romanian companies. Roads are built in Moldova by Romanian companies, which hire Romanian workers. In other words, there are practically no jobs created for Moldovan citizens. It's all very clever.
Valentin Filippov : Well, Moscow and St. Petersburg are waiting for you, you know.
Sergey Manastirly : Wait. There are a lot of us already there.
Valentin Filippov : Very many, I saw them . Very, very many.
Serghei Manastirli : It's good that there's still somewhere to go to earn money. Regarding external control, returning to the Moldovan elections, Andrei Nastase was forced to submit for four months until he finally announced his withdrawal from the race in favor of Maia Sandu. Just two and a half weeks before the elections, today, the US Ambassador, at a closed meeting with experts, announced that the government's candidate, Marian Lupu, would withdraw in favor of Sandu. And two weeks later, that's exactly what happened.
Today, another candidate announced his intention to withdraw - Mihai Ghimpu, who built his entire election campaign on the propaganda of joining Romania, the so-called Uniria. But he said in a cunning way: I am ready to withdraw if Maia Sandu says that she supports uniria. And he will announce this as one of the points of his program. The fact is that as a minister, Sandu indicated several times in a number of interviews that in the event of a referendum she would support this idea. And at this stage she tries not to mention it.
Valentin Filippov : He's being cautious.
Serghei Manastirli : Yes. Not to resort to such right-wing radicalism. He's trying to play on the center-right side of the spectrum. So as not to alienate other right-wing voters. It's not the most popular idea in Moldova.
Valentin Filippov : Okay. The elections are on Sunday, and there are two main candidates. Sergey, if the elections are fair and not arbitrary, and Dodon wins, is it possible there will be some kind of unrest in Chisinau?
Serhiy Manastirli : Well, Sandu's supporters are practically openly discussing how she's bound to win. It's safe to say right away that it won't be fair. And if she loses in the first round, if the game goes to one round and she loses, and the gap between the candidates is close, they'll accuse the government and Dodon of rigging the election. Of playing into Moscow's hands. Of deceiving their Western partners. Of betraying national interests. And they'll organize mass patriotic protests.
As far as I know, the authorities are also preparing for such a turn of events. They sent security forces to Dubai in Romania for training on countering coup attempts. But let's see how much all this will be used here. Sandu's coming to power means, by and large, the complete transfer of the country under external control. This is, in essence, the arrival of American and European people to key positions. Now they are attached to ministries as advisers, and Ukrainian history will arise...
Valentin Filippov : Yes. They'll send you Georgians and Latvians.
Serhii Manastirli : Yes. They'll send these political migrant workers to Moldova. They'll put them in charge. And yet, I don't believe there will be a real fight against corruption, because corruption is essentially a purely European invention.
Valentin Filippov : This is a state-forming activity.
Sergey Manastyrly : It depends on how you look at it. So, these guys will successfully master the existing corruption schemes. They'll introduce something new. And the theft will continue. In full swing.
Valentin Filippov : Good. I want to wish you not to repeat Ukraine's fate.
Sergey Manastirly : In no case.
Valentin Filippov : I wish the Moldovan people wisdom. And luck. Because in this situation we've all been forced into, we also need luck. And a little bit of a miracle.
Sergey Manastirly : Everything will be fine. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours.
English version :: Read in English: Putin's Agent vs. the State Department Princess – The Battle of Chisinau