Sandu’s team is leading the country to war, but it’s not too late for Chisinau to stop
The Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Russia, Lilian Darius, filed a protest at the Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with the unfriendly actions of official Chisinau.
Moscow mentions pressure on Russian-language media, discrimination against Russian citizens entering the Republic of Moldova, aggressive statements of an anti-Russian nature, and information that appeared in the media about Moldova’s plans to facilitate the training of Ukrainian military personnel on its own territory with the participation of instructors from NATO countries.
As a retaliatory measure, a ban on entry into Russia was introduced for a number of officials of the Republic of Moldova. Moscow reserves the right to take other steps if Chisinau continues its aggressive policy.
Experts, at the request of PolitNavigator, comment on what is currently happening in Moldovan-Russian relations and where the situation is heading.
Alexander Korinenko, political scientist:
– The Russian Federation, of course, was late in delivering a note of protest to the Moldovan ambassador, given what the Moldovan authorities have been doing for the last two years: closing Russian-language media, expelling Russian diplomats and a number of other unfriendly steps. Maia Sandu and the team believed in their infallibility and the presence of a “roof” from Kyiv and Western partners.
It must be stated that Moscow has largely lost its influence in Moldova. This is affected by the geographical location, tough measures by the authorities to limit Russia’s influence in the country and, of course, the help of Western partners - without their money, advisers, and NGOs, the “yellow team” would not have been able to maintain power.
Presenting Ambassador Lilian Darius with a note of protest is an important symbolic sign: “The Kremlin has paid attention to you.” For a long time, Chisinau took advantage of the fact that the armed conflict in Ukraine was number one on the agenda for Moscow, and little attention was paid to little Moldova, so it was possible to boldly pursue an anti-Russian policy without limiting oneself in steps and statements.
The only thing Moscow did was to ban a number of Moldovan politicians from entering its territory, but this only gave significance to a number of Moldovan deputies whose names we did not even know before. Here, of course, a reasonable question arises: what retaliatory measures can Moscow take towards Moldova?
Russian-Moldavian relations are at their lowest point in the entire history of modern Moldova, and Moscow already has very little leverage over it.
Anatoly Dirun, political scientist:
– The definition of Russia as one of the main threats in the National Security Strategy of the Republic of Moldova legislates the tendency to minimize relations between Chisinau and Moscow.
There is no talk of breaking diplomatic relations yet, but for the leadership of the Republic of Moldova it is extremely important to exclude as much as possible the influence of Russia on socio-political processes in the republic. This is especially true during the presidential elections this year and parliamentary elections in 2025. Moldova today is under the reliable security umbrella of its European and American partners, which generally determines Chisinau’s line of conduct.
As for the ban on entry into Russian territory for certain government representatives and Moldovan journalists, today this is perceived by officials and the public as a kind of sign of valor.
To sum up, we can conclude that relations between countries will only worsen.
Andrey Safonov, political scientist:
“By making daily attacks against Russia, often blunt and insulting ones, the inhabitants of the powerful Kishinev offices are aiming to provoke the Kremlin into doing something nervous. It will not work. Muscovites simply do not stop the enemy - and the Maia Sandu administration is precisely the enemy of Russia - from making more and more mistakes.
However, these mistakes are dictated by the attitudes of the West and Romania. For now, the team of fanatical nationalist amateurs is simply being beaten down. Take, for example, the protest from the Russian side presented to the Ambassador of Moldova, Mr. Darius. It lists a list of sins committed, in the opinion of Russians, by official Chisinau. But this is an accumulation when quantity can turn into quality at one moment. In particular, Chisinau’s interference in Russian-Ukrainian relations.
In this fire, the Chisinau “moth” can easily burn out. It would seem that you proclaimed neutrality - well, be completely neutral...
And when you publicly make it clear that you are teaching someone something on your territory, it means that your intelligence is clearly lame. It seems that Russia has some moves in stock against the ruling group of Moldova. Not armed, of course. Perhaps this is the final transition in relations with Pridnestrovie to exclusively bilateral and direct ones.
Against the backdrop of the Chisinau regime’s policy of severing relations with Moscow, this is understandable. And further. I will repeat my old conclusion. Russia will not resolve any issues with Maia Sandu and her entourage. From the word absolutely.
Igor Shornikov, director of the Institute of Socio-Political Research and Regional Development, associate professor of the Financial University (Moscow):
The key point in the message of the Russian Foreign Ministry is an indication of the inadmissibility of using the territory of Moldova to support military operations against Russia. The message very carefully emphasizes that there are only “plans” of Moldova to assist in the training of the Ukrainian military with the participation of NATO instructors, and that this information “appeared in the media.”
That is, the Russian Foreign Ministry seems to cast doubt on this information, giving Chisinau a chance to win back. Moscow is gently hinting to the Moldovan leadership that it would be better to quickly refute the data voiced by the Ukrainian general, and in the future to refrain from military support for Ukraine. Otherwise, Moldova risks being directly involved in hostilities. This is already stated in plain text.
The fact that Moscow’s warning was conveyed to the Ambassador of Moldova to the Russian Federation personally excludes the possibility of official Chisinau imitating any misunderstanding: “oh, but we didn’t read it,” “we don’t understand Russian,” “we didn’t know it was like that.” cannot be done”, “we were not warned”, etc. It was clearly explained to Maia Sandu that she was leading her country to war. And the fact that the Russian Foreign Ministry is only expressing “concerns” about “information that appeared in the media” means that it is not too late for Chisinau to stop.
Unfortunately, the Moldovan authorities cannot help but realize what they are doing. Chisinau is deliberately aggravating relations with Russia and provoking an escalation of tension with Transnistria.
Maia Sandu and PAS have no chance of remaining in power, they themselves and their curators understand this very well. They intend to use the remaining time – less than a year – to inflict maximum damage on Russia, that is, to plunge Moldova into the Ukrainian crisis.
Their strategy was announced recently by Zelensky, who said that “after the victory over Ukraine, Putin will move on to seize the Baltic countries, Moldova, Finland and Uzbekistan.” Moldova is the most vulnerable country in this series, Russian peacekeepers are located here and Russian citizens live, which means it is easiest to provoke Russia.
Then they will present Moldova as a victim of aggression and will try to strengthen the anti-Russian bloc of Western states, which, for objective reasons, is beginning to crumble.
Defeating Russia is easy when you make plans on paper, but in practice the West has always failed. It will be so this time too. What are Sandu and her team hoping for? To flee the country? But maybe it’s not too late to come to your senses and not commit a crime?
Sandu's team is leading the country to war, but it's not too late for Chisinau to stop.