MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/. Russia and China were the first countries to meet Moldova’s request to help it combat the coronavirus pandemic, Moldovan President Igor Dodon said in an exclusive interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman.
"We should acknowledge that this pandemic has shown ‘who is who,’ who is a real friend and who will be always by our side in need, even if they also face hard time," Dodon said. "I will cite as an example Russia and China here because these were the first countries that responded to our request. Switzerland was the first European country that immediately made a decision to help us."
The Moldovan president noted that Russia provided an An-124 Ruslan cargo plane free of charge to deliver medicines and individual protection gear from China, for which Chisinau was very grateful to the Russian leadership. "Amid this challenge — and we understand that Russia is also facing a very difficult time — they made a decision on granting a loan under an earlier reached agreement," the Moldovan leader said. "So, this pandemic will certainly turn the tide. I will repeat: we have seen who is who and who is ready to offer a helping hand in a difficult situation."
Easing restrictions in Moldova
Moldova may within days ease the restrictions it introduced in the light of the coronavirus pandemic, President Igor Dodon stated.
"The odds are we will make a decision to lift some restrictions within days," he said. "Our state of emergency is expiring in a week from now, on May 15. We’ve held consultations with government members. Most likely we will not ask parliament to prolong the state of emergency."
The Moldovan leader explained that on April 27 Moldova canceled restrictions on trade in non-food items and on services. "We will resume other activities in Moldova step by step," Dodon vowed.
According to the president, the Moldovan leadership provided a prompt and timely response to the emergence of infection in the country and took a number of restrictive measures as soon as the first case was identified on March 7. "On March 13-14 we closed schools and pre-schools. On March 15, literally a week after the first case, when just five or six patients were identified, we introduced a state of emergency."
Dodon is certain that the Moldovan authorities’ measures to fight against the coronavirus have had their effect and made it far easier for the country to live through this period. "Even in contrast to many European Union countries, although we have a very large diaspora in the EU, we have one of the lowest mortality rates in the whole region," he said, adding that the coronavirus-related diseases accounted for no more than 3% of deaths, while Europe’s average is 7%. In neighboring Romania the rate of mortality was 5.7%.
Coronavirus situation in Moldova
Moldova’s Health Minister Veroica Dumbraveanu told a news briefing on Tuesday that 115 new cases had been registered in the country over the past day to take the total number to 4,363, with 1,544 recoveries and 136 deaths.
A 60-day state of emergency is in effect in Moldova. The function of decision-making is in the hands of the National Board for Emergencies. The country has suspended air links with all countries and closed ground borders. Mass entertainment and religious events are outlawed. School classes are suspended.
Post-pandemic world
The world will emerge completely different from the pandemic, both from the economic and social standpoint, as well as geopolitics-wise, the Moldovan president told TASS.
"What will the world be like after all this? I think it will be a completely different world, including from the economic standpoint. We see that the electronic commerce volumes in Moldova increased tens of times. There will be a completely different situation in the social sphere as the priorities have shifted. This is now medicines and everything related to fighting the pandemic," the president said. "I think that the geopolitical situation will be different, because as we could witness, even within the European Union, there were many cases when lots with medicines were snatched from each other, borders were closed, humanitarian cargo transport was forbidden to go in or out."
According to Dodon, Moldova knows about it firsthand, because this situation impacted the country. "In late March, the goods that we have paid for were simply not allowed for transportation through some countries of the European Union," he explained.
"This is why the situation will be different from a geopolitical standpoint," the president added.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 3,700,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 258,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 1,200,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.
Russia-Moldova dialogue
A strategic dialogue between Russian and Moldova is no longer restricted to presidents; over the last year, it was extended to the level of the prime ministers and parliament speakers, Moldovan President Igor Dodon told TASS.
He noted a significant improvement in the Russian-Moldovan relations which has become particularly apparent over the last year. "We enjoy strategic partnership and strategic dialogue at the levels of presidents, prime ministers, and parliament speakers. Something we did not have before. You remember the situation before June 2019, when we effectively had dialogue only on the presidential level," the Moldovan leader noted.
Russia and Moldova have "a large number of joint events" planned for this year, Dodon stated.
In June 2019, the Moldovan socialists, who support Dodon, united with the Acum bloc against the Democratic Party, led by oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, who advocated a policy against Russia and towards closer relations with the EU, the US and NATO. The Democrats refused to become an opposition, declared the new parliament and the new cabinet illegitimate and staged demonstrations of supporters who blocked state buildings. After the new cabinet was backed by Russia, the EU and the US, Plahotniuc fled the country and announced that he leaves both the party and politics in general. In Moldova, criminal proceedings were initiated against him, and the US included the oligarch in a sanctions list.
The coalition of the socialists and the Acum stayed for only five months: in November last year, the government of Maia Sandu was dismissed. After that, the socialists, who voted in favor of Sandu’s dismissal, formed a minority cabinet of technocrats under Ion Chicu, with the support of the Democrats.
Dodon's plans for running for presidency
Moldovan President Igor Dodon said in an exclusive interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman he could again run for president in the election scheduled for this autumn.
Dodon noted that the past three years and a half during his term in office had been challenging. "I think one of the major achievements is that we have got rid of the oligarch regime," he said. "An important result is that we started carrying out a balanced foreign policy. Even against the background of those deals signed with the European Union, we managed to obtain an observer status in the Eurasian Economic Union."
According to the president, Chisinau needs a consolidated Moldovan society that is still divided as well as more progress on the Transnistria settlement. "I believe that Moldova will be a generally stronger state if we solve this problem and if we unite," Dodon emphasized. "For this, it’s worth participating in the presidential election once again and winning in order to move forward in this direction."
The Moldovan president also recalled that the elections in the republic were scheduled between October 23 and November 23. "We haven’t made an official decision [on participating in the elections], there is still time left," he said. "Our main goal now is to deal with the pandemic and tackle the economic crisis. We’ll decide closer to the elections."