MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. Moscow has its eye on the West and Ukraine’s fanatical obsession to undermine Moscow's position in the 5+2 Transnistrian settlement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, on Wednesday.
"There is, of course, a fanatical obsession by Kiev and their puppeteers from the European Union, to undermine Russia’s positions in the 5+2 talks, which deals with the Transnistrian settlement; to weaken our relations with Gagauzia and declare the Russian Federation responsible for all Moldova's misfortunes; to demand the withdrawal of our peacekeepers, that is, our group of servicemen who guard the enormous ammunition depots in Colbasna," Lavrov said, when asked to comment on the recent allegations that Russia supposedly intends to destabilize the situation in Moldova.
The top diplomat noted that the Moldovan government, with its anti-Russian rhetoric, "which Kiev is now trying to fire up as much as possible" by passing on some confidential information about allegedly planned Russian provocations and coups, wants to deflect any accusations of its failed socio-economic policy in the country". "Although they (the Moldovan authorities - TASS) keep saying that 'we must solve the problem of Transnistria, and the withdrawal of Russian troops exclusively by diplomatic methods,' they are pushed to a completely different position, they are prodded to ensure that legitimate public processes are suppressed as harshly as possible," the Russian diplomat specified.
"We [the Foreign Ministry] issued a statement, where we said that it is not in our interests," Lavrov stressed. "We want to have good relations with a friendly Moldova, a multi-ethnic Moldova, but this is, of course, a two-way street."
"The politicians who have now taken power in this country and who, by and large, have declared their desire both to join the European Union and practically merge with Romania, or even ask NATO to ensure their security, these politicians do not reflect the interests of their people at all. There are calls for early elections, this is Moldova’s internal affair, but we do not take pleasure in using this friendly country for anti-Russian purposes," he concluded.