MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/. Moldova’s President Maia Sandu backed by the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) that has won the parliamentary elections has pursued a policy of rapprochement with Europe and NATO, so Chisinau’s relations with Moscow are unlikely to improve, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Leonid Kalashnikov told TASS on Monday.
"Will relations with Russia improve? Hardly. On the one hand, she (Sandu - TASS) always stressed before the elections that she wanted to attract pro-Russian voters. On the other hand, she pursued a policy of rapprochement with NATO and Europe, but not with Russia," he said. According to Kalashnikov, Chisinau will continue to pursue its pro-European policy with all the possible consequences for it.
He noted that "one should expect, among other things, provocations against Transnistria, which turned out to be locked between two hostile lands - Ukraine and Moldova." "Provocations, in which, unfortunately, Russia may be get dragged into, are inevitable there, because more than 200,000 people there are Russian citizens," he emphasized.
The lawmaker stressed that the Party of Action and Solidarity had secured votes "thanks to the same trick they did last time, using polling stations abroad and bringing people there, despite the pandemic."
In general, Kalashnikov described the party’s victory as predictable, given Sandu’s recent success in the presidential election. "She has gained full power, and now she must be fully accountable. She got it by hook or by crook," he concluded.
The Party of Action and Solidarity, which supports Moldova’s President Maia Sandu, secured 52.53% of votes at Sunday’s parliamentary elections, it will be able to form the government independently, the Central Election Commission (CEC) told TASS on Monday after counting 99.58% of the ballots. It is followed by the Electoral Bloc of Communists and Socialists, which secured 27.36% of the votes. The Sor party that garnered 5.78% of the votes likewise cleared the threshold to win seats in parliament. The results of the vote must be confirmed by the country’s Constitutional Court.