Mayor of Timisoara about Awarding Sandu: The Russians Are Right There

Timisoara Mayor Dominic Fritz reacted after an award received by Maia Sandu had caused outrage in Chisinau. Fritz says that the award has not yet been handed over to the Moldovan president and that Maia Sandu is being attacked by Russia for the award, while Timisoara shows that she is brave and that she has not forgotten the values of freedom and democracy. According to Dominic Fritz, the city of Timisoara appeared on the official account of the Russian Foreign Ministry with the news that President Sandu received a prize of 30,000 euros. Fritz emphasized that this happened after Maia Sandu had criticized Russia in her speech in Timisoara. “Sandu came to Timisoara to receive an award established by the municipality, the European Values Award. She arrived, made a speech in which she was very critical of Russia, very clearly said that it is a real threat, told what attempts at destabilization the Russians had made in Moldova. With this award we wanted to outline that the people of Timisoara support her, they support Moldova and immediately the Russians popped up, published a picture of me presenting this award to Maia Sandu, they started attacking her because she accepted this award. Immediately, various publications appeared discussing that the award was given with a bonus of 30,000 euros,” Dominic Fritz said, stressing that the award was conferred for outstanding achievements. The mayor of Timisoara clarified that the money has not yet been transferred. “We still have not transferred the money, but there are already discussions about Maia Sandu and that is why she is being attacked. For me, all these discussions and especially the Russian attack simply prove how fortunate Maia Sandu was to be chosen as the first recipient of this award. She is extremely brave, Moldova is too vulnerable, it is not in the European Union, it is not in NATO, Russia’s war is on the border, in Ukraine, and the fact that Russia is attacking us for this sign of solidarity towards Maia Sandu and towards Moldova just confirms for me that Timisoara is on the right path,” Fritz said. Maia Sandu asked the National Anticorruption Center (NAC) whether she could receive a cash prize of 30,000 euros offered by the Association of Businessmen of Timisoara.