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Putin vows to support Moldovan president Dodon

Moscow will keep supporting president Dodon and his present-day coalition partners

MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/. Moscow would not give up support for Moldovan President Igor Dodon amid the complicated political situation in his country, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the Mir broadcaster on Thursday.

"We, undoubtedly, will keep supporting President Dodon and his present-day coalition partners so that they eventually get rid of these - to put it mildly - people, who usurped power in Moldova until recently, and, despite possible internal differences, find strength to build cooperation in the interests of Moldova and its people," Putin noted.

When speaking about the current situation in Moldova, the Russian president said that it wasn’t unique. "However, it is the most illustrative situation because oligarchs and institutions affiliated with them had actually usurped power in Moldova, just like it happened in Ukraine to a certain extent. Those oligarchs had taken control of all state bodies, including law enforcement agencies, parliament and everything else," Putin said. "It means, they squeezed big money out of the Moldovan people and used it to ensure their personal wellbeing and secure their influence in the affairs of the state," the Russian leader added.

According to Putin, "what President Dodon and his former opponents from what can be called the pro-Western parties have done now is a step towards building a capable, civilized and modern-day state."

Situation in Moldova

Moldova’s parliament was unable to create a ruling coalition and form a government following the February elections. Only on June 8, the Party of Socialists supporting President Igor Dodon managed to reach an agreement with the pro-EU ACUM bloc to oppose the Democratic Party led by oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, which controlled the former parliament and cabinet. The leader of the Party of Socialists Zinaida Greceanii was elected the parliament’s speaker, and the government was formed with Maia Sandu, the leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity, a part of the ACUM bloc, as the prime minister.

The Democratic Party refused to recognize the new government and turned to the Constitutional Court, which ruled that the parliament’s resolutions were illegitimate as the parliament had failed to form a government within 90 days (starting on March 9, when the lawmakers received their mandates).

After that, the Constitutional Court authorized acting Prime Minister and member of the Democratic Party Pavel Filip to sign a decree on the parliament’s dissolution instead of the president. Dodon described the move as an attempt to usurp power.