MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. Chisinau's a priori refusal to interact with Moscow does not please a large number of Moldovans, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Commenting on the Moldovan president's decree on the start of negotiations on the country's accession to the EU, he said: "We know that very many people in this country believe that it should develop in all directions, that the future interests of the country can be linked not only to the European Union, but also to such promising markets as Russia, [within the framework of] integration processes in the former Soviet space," he pointed out.

Peskov emphasized that for some reason this direction is now a priori excluded from the Moldovan leadership's agenda. "We see that a large part of the Moldovan population does not like this trend. But these are internal Moldovan affairs, and we are following them closely," he explained.

The Kremlin spokesman also recalled that the EU "has its own problems with understanding the potential of the EU expansion": some European politicians believe that increasing the number of participants could have a negative impact on the association's prospects. "That is why this process is not a quick one. It is the sovereign business of each state, including Moldova," Peskov concluded.