The President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, explained why Kishinev did not impose sanctions against the Russian Federation, Evropeiska Pravda reports citing NewsMaker.
According to Sandu, the war in Ukraine is already affecting Moldova’s export and import. “When we are talking about sanctions in general, without going into detail, it is a very superficial approach. Let’s discuss what sanctions could mean regarding export and import: we do not have access to the Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian markets as is. Because there is this obstacle - war, and export and import with these countries are blocked,” she stated.
Maia Sandu also reminded about Moldova’s energy dependency on the Russian Federation, adding that there is no solution to this problem right now. “Can we leave the country without natural gas and electricity today? No, we can not. Not for our citizens, not for 100 000 Ukrainian refugees, including 50 000 children,” Sanda says.
According to the President of Moldova, the country “has the full support of its Western partners,” who will try to help Kishinev find alternative ways to supply energy resources. “But until then, we, obviously, can not ignore the reality,” she added.
“Of course, we have to do everything to stop this war. But there are certain things we must provide for our citizens. We will not help anyone by leaving the country without energy resources and destabilizing the situation: not Moldova, not Ukraine, not our western partners,” Sandu says.
The Russian war against Ukraine made more than 3,3 million Ukrainian leave the country, and almost 6,5 million became internally displaced persons.