Dodon Plans to Discuss with Putin a Loan Previously Blocked by the Constitutional Court

Moldovan President Igor Dodon plans to discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin the possibility of restarting negotiations on a € 200 million loan, which had previously been blocked by the republic’s Constitutional Court. In an interview with NTV-Moldova on Friday, Dodon said he plans to meet with the Russian leader at the ceremonies to be held on June 24 in Moscow in honor of the 75th anniversary of Victory in World War II, reports tass.ru. “We’ll try to arrange a working meeting with Putin. I hope it will be possible. <...> We will talk about the credit and other issues related to the current agenda,” Dodon said. He expressed hope that negotiations with the Russian Federation will be successful and will receive support in Moldova. “There is confidence that the parliament, perhaps even unanimously, will vote for this agreement, because we need this money for infrastructure,” the president said. Earlier, Russia agreed to give Moldova a loan at the request of Dodon. The agreement on its provision was approved by the government and ratified by the parliament of the republic, and also included in the budgets for 2020 of both countries. Money was provided “for budget support" for 10 years at a rate of 2% per annum. However, the pro-European opposition in Moldova accused the government that the negotiations were not open enough and also criticized a number of provisions of the loan agreement. According to Dodon, behind the move was the opposition’s desire to provoke economic and social crisis in the country in order to change regime.