MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/. The overwhelming majority of Moldovan nationals who are working in Russia - 90% - want better relations between Moscow and Chisinau, leader of Moldova’s Party of Socialists Igor Dodon said on Sunday at a meeting with representatives of the Moldovan diaspora.
“Last time I was in Russia, I had a meeting with Patriarch (of Moscow and All Russia) Kirill, he asked me to accompany the icon and the relicts of St. Sergius of Radonezh,” he said. “Over the 20 days of their stay in Moldova, some 150,000 believers venerated the relics. It demonstrates that our peoples are united by centuries-long friendship. No one will ever sever it.”
“At the end of this month, elections are due in Moldova. Each of the candidates says he is the best choice. But 90% of Moldovans working here /in Russia/ are interested in good relations with Russia, fifty percent of Moldova’s population want to join the Customs Union (of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan),” he said.
Dodon said that official statistics put the number of Moldovan labour migrants in Russia at 700,000, while, according to unofficial statistics, up to one million Moldovan national were staying in Russia. These people, according to Dodon, bring to Moldova’s economy 1.4 and 2.5 billion U.S. dollars, respectively. “And what are the authorities doing for you? They are opening only five polling stations! The /the authorities/ are afraid because they know you would not vote for their European values,” he stressed.
He said he had recently visited the town of Briceni in Moldova. “200,000 tonnes of apples have not been harvested. How much does a kilo of apples cost in Moscow? About 90 roubles, or two U.S. dollars and there they have to sell them to juice-makers at a price of one to two cents. Is Moscow to blame for that? Responsibility rests with those who signed the agreement with the European Union,” he said.
Dodon sounded ironical about Moldova’s Current authorities. “It looks like a situation when a wife dropped her husband for another man but demands her ex provide for her,” he said.
“They /the Russians/ say: let us be friends, and you are looking at NATO, calling them /the Russians/ Soviet aggressors. There have never been and will never be any problems with the Russian language,” he said.
The Moldovan Socialist leader also spoke about the situation in Ukraine. “They wanted to be sitting on two chairs and what has come of it? They wanted to play mock battles and have ruined the country in the long run,” he said.