Donations
Veridica.md
The West wants to turn Moldova into an anti-Russian bridgehead, but Russia is the true partner of this country, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. Maria Zakharova also said, according to Russian and pro-Russian media, that the EU won’t bring any economic benefits to the Republic of Moldova.
NEWS: “Any attempts from the West to turn Moldova into an anti-Russian bridgehead, just like Ukraine and the Baltic States, is doomed to fail”, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova has said.
“Let me make it clear: Russia never posed any threat to the friendly Moldovan people, who understands and fells this”, Maria Zakharova told a press briefing in Moscow.
[…] “The real backdrop of Chișinău’s anti-Russian official policies is clear to Moldovan citizens themselves”, Zakharova argues, adding that “the country’s experts have openly argued that Chișinău’s objective is to make Moldova part of the EU and NATO’s aggressive and anti-Russian periphery.
Moldova will never receive any of the benefits EU Member States enjoy in economic and humanitarian terms, but instead will serves as a springboard to apparently destroy Russia, to make it sustain a strategic defeat, which is what NATO has stated officially. In fact, the same thing that happened to other countries that embarked on the path to deceit and self-disappointment will happen to Moldova too. Moldova itself will unfortunately be destroy unless the current administration (of Maia Sandu) in Chișinău will wake up and remember it has a responsibility towards its people”, Maria Zakharova concluded.
NARRATIVES: 1. The West is trying to turn the Republic of Moldova into an aggressive, anti-Russian state. 2. Russia is a trusted ally of Moldova, in contrast with the West, which is using it without offering anything in return.
BACKGROUND: Chișinău-Moscow relations have soured in recent years, particularly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The pro-European government in Chisinau condemned the war, and the Republic of Moldova as a country, as well as its citizens, were severely affected by to the war, with much of the country's trade being reliant on Ukrainian transit routes.
Over the past year, verbal exchanges between Moscow and Chisinau have become even more embittered. The Kremlin accuses the Moldovan government of Russophobia, while Chișinău says Russia is trying to destabilize the situation and bring loyalist forces to power. Moreover, these statements are also confirmed by officials and international experts.
The transformation of the Republic of Moldova into an anti-Russian bridgehead, or even its preparation for a war against Russia, is one of the most circulated narratives of Russian propaganda after the invasion of Ukraine. It is intensively promoted both across Russia, to confirm the Kremlin's statements about Russia's Western enemies, but also abroad - in the Republic of Moldova, on both banks of the Dniester, to fuel fears of the population of Transnistria, but also of Moldovans on the right-bank, especially national minorities, with regard to an “imminent war” promoted by the pro-European authorities in Chișinău.
Meanwhile, the Republic of Moldova is making progress on the path of European integration - in 2022 it obtained, together with Ukraine, the status of EU candidate country, and in December 2023, the European Council decided to launch accession negotiations with the two states.
PURPOSE: To depict Russia as besieged by the aggressive “collective West”, thereby justifying the war in Ukraine. To present the government in Chișinău as being obedient to Western interests at the expense of its own country and, on the other hand, Russia as a reliable partner of Moldova.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: In fact, the Republic of Moldova has one of the world’s most insignificant military forces and does not even have a direct border with Russia to get involved in the war. The Republic of Moldova is a neutral state, which is facing a breakaway conflict in the east of the country and has rejected any idea of solving it by military means, a scenario entertained by certain Kyiv officials. Chișinău stated that it only considers a peaceful resolution of the Transnistrian conflict.
The attempt to present Russia as a trustworthy partner, acting in Moldova's best interest, is not new either. Veridica has debunked such narratives in the past as well, since through its actions or the statements of some of its officials, Moscow proved its direct or indirect involvement in the Republic of Moldova by supporting some pro-Russian politicians, trying to influence foreign policy, including through energy blackmail and economic warfare, by maintaining a Russian military force on the territory of the Republic of Moldova and by supporting the separatist administration in Tiraspol, thus fueling the conflict on the ground, which continues to hinder the country's development.
The statement that the EU does not support the Republic of Moldova is equally false. Starting the fall of 2021, Brussels has provided financial assistance worth over 1.2 billion EUR designed to help Moldova overcome the multiple crises it is facing, from the consequences of the pandemic to the fallout from the war in Ukraine, especially by increasing the prices of energy resources.
This year as well, the Republic of Moldova relies on Western loans and grants worth nearly 800 million EUR, almost half of which is provided by European institutions, according to the budget law for 2024, which does not include any type of assistance provided by Russia.
Check sources:
---copie-image.webp)
