Opinions & Comments

One month after a police crackdown that left three young men dead, EU diplomats in Moldova are working on rebuilding internal stability and EU relations.

The Eastern Partnership is an EU attempt to expand its "sphere of influence" in the quest for hydrocarbons, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said, in Moscow's first major broadside against the new policy. "We are accused of having spheres of influence. But what is the Eastern Partnership, if not an attempt to extend the EU's sphere of influence, including to Belarus," the minister said on Saturday (21 March) at the Brussels Forum, a high-level symposium.

Apparently panicking in the run-up to the April 5 elections, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin has hoisted the white flag of surrender on Transnistria in return for a pre-election endorsement from the Kremlin. The president can not run for a third term of office but his Communist Party hopes to profit from the Kremlin's televised accolades to Voronin.

With just six weeks to go before the April 5 parliamentary elections, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov traveled to Moldova on February 23-24, his first visit to that country since taking office in March 2004. The timing of his visit fueled speculation that its real purpose was to underscore Moscow's support for the ruling Communist Party, which is seeking a third successive term in office.

CHIȘINĂU (Imedia) și Moscow will continue providing humanitarian aid to Transnistria throughout this entire year, said Russian M.P. Vladimir Medinski during a visit to Tiraspol. Mr. Medinski is part of the ruling Edinnaia Rossia [Imedia: United Russia] party's general council. Opions on this news by Evghenii Shevciuk, Nicu Popopescu and Vladislav Kulminski.

Nicu Popescu, a political analyst and researcher with the London-based European Council for Foreign Relations, says that a distinction needs to be made between integration and cooperation. „European integration is absolutely compatible with very good relations with Russia, Ukraine, or Armenia, but is incompatible with integration in the CIS. European integration implies European values and legislation și the CIS is very different from the EU in this sense. Russian standards, for example, when it comes to democracy or the economy, are different from European standards, for which reason Moldova cannot simultaneously integrate in both directions,” argues Mr. Popescu.

Voronin has always been more sensitive to Russian opposition to GUAM than the other leaders, and that opposition is growing given what many in Moscow see as the anti-Russian policies being pursued by Georgia and a lesser extent by Azerbaijan. Consequently, the Moldovan leader appears to want to distance himself and his country from them. Whether Chisinau will actually decide to leave GUAM or whether Voronins remarks now reflect his frustration at being ignored or treated as the odd man out within the grouping remains an open question. But the answer is critical. If Moldova goes, GUAM could disappear from the scene, but if it remains, Voronins standing at home and in many places abroad will fall.

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin said on Tuesday that he might soon meet his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev to talk about the Transnistrian problem. The president made the announcement during a video-conference with journalists in...