MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. The West is pushing Moldova towards the very catastrophe, it has already been testing its scenario on the territory of Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

"Moldova is being pushed to exactly the same catastrophe, which the West has now tested on the territory of Ukraine," Zakharova said. "As the presidential elections and the referendum on Moldova's accession to the European Union scheduled for October 20 are approaching, the anti-Russian rhetoric of the official Chisinau is taking on increasingly grotesque forms."

"On September 3, the Moldovan foreign minister said that Russia is 'testing Moldova's strength by exerting a malicious influence on it.' On September 5, [the republic’s President] Maia Sandu said on TV that the Kremlin allegedly spends $2 mln a month to tarnish her image," the diplomat continued. "Dear Maia Sandu, everyone knows this is just impossible. Such money would be needed to fix your image for the slightest bit, although I doubt this sum would be enough. But you would need no money to tarnish it, it can no longer be done as soon as you have brought your own image to a historical minimum."

Moreover, Zakharova pointed out, the struggle against dissent is underway in Moldova.

"In addition to repressions against the opposition and the independent media, the degrading education system is actively implemented. The Moldovan Ministry of Education and Research has threatened to reconsider the financing of those educational institutions where political opposition took part in events marking the beginning of the school year," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed. "An official inquiry was announced against one of Chisinau lyceum’s teacher who refused to praise the ‘prosperous European future’. Pro-government propagandists continue to harass those clergymen of the Moldovan Orthodox Church accused of having links with Russia. They call on ‘involving the competent authorities,’ because of the pilgrimage trips of Orthodox priests to our country."

 

Dealing a blow to their own

 

Zakharova recalled that Moldovan banks announced the termination of the only payment system allowed to transfer money between Russia and Moldova in late August. "Who was the first to get a blow? It was the Moldovans working in Russia who were deprived of the opportunity to help their relatives and friends at their home," she said. "Maia Sandu dealt a blow to them."

"The collapse of the economy and the education system has led to a mass outflow of the working-age population from Moldova, primarily of young people. Meanwhile, the authorities still pretend there is no depopulation. According to the Spokesman for Moldova's government, citizens do not leave Moldova, rather simply ‘travel’," the diplomat pointed out, than noted the anti-rating of the Moldovan leadership to be at a record level.

 

Caring about the West

 

According to Zakharova, Chisinau is now trying to improve the situation not by recovering the economy, but by organizing "myriads of site visits made by high-ranking EU envoys, who praise the Moldovan leadership for some imaginary ‘success’."

"The whole this story with the West, repeated year on year in different parts on the world, simply won’t work," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman summarized.

"We call on the Moldovan authorities to abandon their Russophobic policy, to listen to their citizens, who have not yet been renamed as Romanians. People have entrusted their lives to Moldova. So, care about them as you promised. Today Chisinau turns out to be caring only about the West, its sponsor, and about itself," Zakharova said.