Stoianoglo: “We Must Hold In With Both East and West”

The presidential candidate believes that Moldovan politicians should pursue a policy of consolidating society, pursue a balanced foreign policy and develop the country considering national interests and the interests of citizens. According to him, the split in the society exists because politicians divide the society according to some criteria, he said. “Moldova is a small country. There is a policy of consolidation and there is a policy of division and hatred. So, when we talk to people about European integration or relations with Russia, we should not talk about it from the point of view of division or confrontation of these development vectors. We have to discuss this issue considering the country’s interests. And it is absolutely obvious that in the interests of the country, and we are a small country, we should be both in the East and in the West,” stressed Alexandr Stoianoglo. He noted that the European model is attractive for us, but at the same time we should not oppose someone, should not oppose Russia. “We have strong trade and economic relations with Russia, we have more than half a million of our citizens living in Russia, whose interests in Russia should be ensured, and Moldova should contribute to this process. Whether some people like it or not, Russia is still the only source of energy resources supply to our country. Because the electricity that we buy in Transnistria is produced from the gas that we purchase in Russia. The other gas that we allegedly buy on diversified markets is also Russian gas, but we just buy it from intermediaries,” the former prosecutor-general and candidate for the Moldovan presidency said. He said Moldova should not build its relations with someone against someone else. “We should build relations with all countries, including China and the Arab world, from the point of view of the country’s interests. That is, not against someone, but together. It would be a kind of national idea to develop the country in the interests of our people, and not to divide the country based on who holds what views,” Alexandr Stoianoglo outlined. He pointed out that Moldova is a very small country and it cannot influence the processes not only in the world, but even in the region, although it could have a more active position on all regional problems as well. “It simply obliges us to maintain relations with all the countries of the region, in Europe, and in the East,” said the former prosecutor-general and candidate for the Moldovan presidency. In his opinion, this could not be done before because some politicians promoted their own interests rather than the interests of the country. “And these issues have to be shared. When we promote the interests of the state, which correspond to the interests of the people, that’s when we can have some kind of balance of interests. We simply have no other way out today; we cannot give up that part of the population that lives in Russia. We cannot solve the Transnistrian problem without Russia. We cannot have other markets for our products, the same apples that were traditionally sold in Russia. Last year more than 100 thousand tons of apples weren’t reaped, because the only stable market for our apples and other fruits is the Russian Federation,” said Alexandr Stoianoglo. He admitted that the war in Ukraine broke the logistics of supplies to Russia, but noted that the most important thing is that there was no agreement and understanding either at the political or technical level to maintain a certain regime of mutual trade, and then it would have been possible to find other logistical solutions.