YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, June 16. /TASS/. Moldova’s President Igor Dodon said on Sunday he is sure his country’s new government will have good relations with Russia.
"In the past 2.5-3 years, Moldova’s government has practically blocked all contacts with Russia and we have had relations only at the level of presidents. I am sure we will have very good relations with Russia under the new government," he said in an interview with the Vesti Nedeli with Dmitry Kiselev weekly news roundup on the Rossiya-1 television channel.
Earlier, Dodon noted that Moldova’s relations with Russia would largely depend on who heads his country’s government.
The political crisis in Moldova is about to be settled after the Democratic Party that had controlled the country’s government said on June 14 it was going into opposition. Its supporters unblocked entrances to the governmental buildings. The new government of Maia Sandu gathered for its first meeting on Saturday.
Political crisis in Moldova
Moldova’s parliament has been trying to establish the ruling coalition and form the government since the February elections. Only on June 8, the Party of Socialists supporting Moldovan President Igor Dodon finally managed to reach agreement with the pro-EU bloc Acum (Now) to oppose the Democratic Party led by oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, which controlled the former parliament and the cabinet. The leader of the Party of Socialists Zinaida Greceanii was elected the parliament’s speaker, and the government was formed with Maia Sandu, the leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity, a part of the Acum bloc, as the prime minister.
The Democratic Party refused to recognize the new government and filed a request with the Constitutional Court, which ruled that the parliament’s resolutions were illegitimate as the parliament had failed to form the government within a period of 90 days in conformity with law (from March 9 when the lawmakers received their mandates).
After that, the Constitutional Court authorized acting Prime Minister and member of the Democratic Party Pavel Filip to sign a decree on the parliament’s dissolution instead of the president. President Dodon described this step as an attempt to usurp power.
Russia, the European Union, the United States and other countries and international organizations have expressed concern over the political crisis in Moldova and declared their readiness to cooperate with that country’s parliament and new cabinet. After that, the cabinet of the former Prime Minister Pavel Filip announced its resignation.