Russia continues to represent a threat and a big source of instability for many years to come, and joining the European Union is the only solution for Moldova to be safe and preserve its democracy, declared President Maia Sandu in an interview with CNN.
“The Russian president wants all our (post-Soviet) countries to live in poverty and without democracy. He wants Moldova and the other countries in the region to be in a gray zone so that he can use our countries in his feud with the democratic West. We want our country to be part of the free world”, said Maia Sandu.
According to her, Moldova feels safer today compared to a year ago: “We feel safer thanks to the resistance of the Ukrainian soldiers, of the Ukrainian people, and thanks to the courage of the Ukrainian leadership. But we do know that Russia continues to represent a threat. We are facing hybrid attempts from Russia. And while we do feel safer thanks to the Ukrainian resistance, we still need to do a lot to defend ourselves. We believe that Moldova is going to be safe and our democracy will be preserved when Moldova becomes a EU member state”.
When asked about Chisinau’s decision to cut the Russian embassy staff, Maia Sandu declared that Russia should respect Moldova’s independence and the interests of Moldovan citizens.
“When people from Russia try to overthrow a democratically elected government, this is a very clear sign that there is no respect for this country. It’s the Moldovan citizens who decide who should run the country. We have free elections and we will decide how the country is governed, and what is the geopolitical direction that the country wants to take. When Russia interferes, blackmails us, when Russia does not respect the neutrality that we have in our Constitution, because Russia keeps its troops on our territory against the will of the Moldovan people, we will respond accordingly”, the president said.
Maia Sandu added that her responsibility as head of state, the responsibility of the Parliament, of the Government is to represent the interests of the citizens of Moldova.
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