Moldovan president says plans to meet with Putin on CIS summit margins
The Moldovan leader plans to discuss bilateral ties
CHISINAU, October 3. /TASS/. Moldovan President Igor Dodon said on Tuesday he hopes to discuss the entire spectrum of Moldovan-Russian relations at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi next week.
"During our meeting in Sochi next week, we will discuss with Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) the entire spectrum of relations between our countries. Despite the existing obstacles, we are moving forward towards resuming comprehensive strategic partnership between Moldova and Russia," he wrote on his Facebook account.
Earlier, he told journalists he planned to meet with the Russian leader on October 11 on the sidelines of a summit of the CIS heads of state.
At a meeting with Russian Ambassador to Chisinau Farit Mukhametshin last week, Dodon hailed sustainable growth in trade between the two countries in the recent months. He also thanked the Russian authorities for the amnesty covering tens of thousands of Moldovan labor migrants who had previously violated Russia’s migration laws. Earlier, he said he planned to ask the Russian authorities to carry out an additional amnesty for those of Moldovan labor migrants who has failed to obtain a legal status.
Despite these steps, Moldova’s government, which is in opposition to the president, expelled five Russian diplomats in May and declared Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who is co-chair of the intergovernmental economic cooperation commission and Russian president’s envoy for the Transnistrian settlement, a persona non grata in August.
President Dodon placed responsibility for these actions on the ruling Democratic Party of Moldova and its "Western patrons" who are worried over the positive dynamics in Chisinau’s relations with Moscow.