Chicu Went to Kyiv to Save the Moldovan-Ukrainian Relations

Sergei Isaenko Moldovan Prime Minister Ion Chicu discussed gas transit, security, trade and Transdniestria with his Ukrainian counterpart. On December 12, Prime Minister of Moldova Ion Chicu, at the invitation of his Ukrainian counterpart, made his first working visit to Kyiv, where he took part in the summit of GUAM heads of government. GUAM is a well-known regional organization for democracy and economic development in the former Soviet Union, which was established by several post-Soviet countries in 1997. In particular, it includes Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova (from 1999 to 2005 Uzbekistan was also a member of the organization). This Association is an alternative integration platform for the CIS countries seeking to cooperate with the EU structures, as well as to weaken trade, economic, energy and political dependence on Russia. Earlier, at the end of November, the 12th session of the GUAM Interparliamentary Assembly was also held in Kyiv. According to some reports, the Ukrainian speaker Dmytro Razumkov personally invited the head of the Moldovan Parliament Zinaida Greceanii to the capital of Ukraine. But she ignored the invitation from her counterpart and instead sent the MP Alexandru Jizdan. This step caused a heavy criticism from representatives of the ACUM bloc, who saw this as another unfriendly gesture towards Kyiv. It is no secret that the current government in Moldova can hardly boast of good attention from international partners and closest neighbors, and Igor Dodon is tacitly recognized as persona non grata in Kyiv and Bucharest. Even the President’s actual withdrawal of past statements about “Russian Crimea” has not changed the situation. Therefore, participation in interstate organizations remains, perhaps, one of the few opportunities for international ‘recognition’ of the current Moldovan authorities, as well as for discussing issues of Moldovan-Ukrainian cooperation, which has increased significantly in recent years. Today, Moldova and Ukraine have a fairly wide range of mutually interesting topics. During the current visit, the parties discussed, among other things, the strengthening of regional security, mutual support in the settlement of conflicts in Donbas and Transdniestria, as well as the expansion of joint control on the border. It was not without discussing the urgent issue of gas transit. At the same time, while agreeing to establish a free trade zone at the last summit, anti-dumping measures introduced by the government of Ukraine against Moldovan producers became a separate subject in the dialogue between Kyiv and Chisinau. I refer to the fact that this week the interdepartmental commission on international trade decided to impose anti-dumping duties on imports to Ukraine of steel products from Belarus and Moldova for 5 years. At the same time, if zero duties were applied to the key Belarusian producer, they amounted to 13.8% to the Moldovan metallurgical plant located on the territory of the left bank. This development places the current Moldovan government in a dilemma. After all, on the one hand they have to talk about security, reducing Russian influence and taking coordinated measures against separatism in Moldova and Ukraine, and at the same time to discuss the cancellation or at least easing of sanctions against one of the main sources of income of the Tiraspol administration. In any case, it is too early to talk about any specifics in the dialogue between the two countries. It is obvious that Kyiv will not rush to solve the accumulated issues and will tactfully delay real work on them. This is evidenced by the agreement to hold an intergovernmental commission only next March, which will allegedly thoroughly investigate the problems of bilateral relations and propose models for their settlement. Apparently, Kyiv assumes that the current Moldovan government is temporary, and therefore chose a policy of ‘formalized interaction’ with the neighboring state. In fact, this means that the Ukrainian authorities will maintain the established frequency of contacts and the strategic focus of relations between the two states, especially in the issue of ensuring regional stability near their South-Western borders, but that’s all. The authorities of the neighboring country are likely to take a time-out on other issues, for example in the field of trade or economy, in anticipation of the change of the Moldovan leadership to more pro-European partners.