Page 47 - bne magazine February 2024_20240206

bne February 2024 Southeast Europe I 47
New approach to national security
Moldova’s President Maia Sandu unveiled the draft of the country’s new National Security Strategy on October 11, saying its aim is to strengthen security at "the most dangerous moment since independence”, and explicitly naming Russia. It has been submitted to the parliament, where Sandu’s Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) has a majority, and is expected to be approved shortly.
"We have two great dangers to national security today: the aggressive policy pursued by the Russian Federation against our country and against peace, in general, and the corruption rooted in Moldova," said Sandu, a statement from the presidency said in October.
“If we ignore the harsh reality, it will
not go away. We must be prepared and make a clear choice on which side of the world we want to be on,” Sandu added.
EU membership is one of the strategy’s targets, besides boosting investments in the national defence system and revisiting the country’s international relations, notably with regard to Russia. Sandu and other officials have also mooted the possibility of dropping the neutral status adopted by Moldova back in 1994.
“We [the parliament] will be voting
in the new National Security Strategy spelling out that Russia is the
main national security threat and taking actions to build resilience in institutions with that threat in mind,” said Mihai Popsoi, deputy speaker of the Moldovan parliament, during a panel hosted by the US Institute of Peace (USIP) on December 5.
“For too long some politicians have not avoided this truth, but have been actively engaged in promoting Russian malign influence in Moldova.”
He argued that one of the strands of Russian propaganda is to promote the idea that neutrality is a guarantee of security. “That cannot be further from the truth. No neutrality clause has prevented an aggressor from taking advantage of the vulnerability of
another country,” said Popsoi. “We need to break through the spell of Russian propaganda that neutrality is
a guarantee of security.”
Moldovan officials have also talked of increasing cooperation with Nato, as well as opening the discussion on alternatives to neutrality; they have stressed that such steps would only happen after consultations with the Moldovan population.
Neutralising Russian attacks
This comes after over a year during which Moldova has increasingly moved to tackle and neutralise Russia’s hybrid tools of attack on the country.
Since its independence Moldova has faced daunting obstacles,” said Jorgan Andrews, USIP state Department fellow, listing the conflict with Russia-backed separatists in Transnistria, the bank frauds that siphoned off $1bn from three local banks, state capture by a local oligarch, near complete energy dependence on Russia and heavy Russian interference in its elections.
“Moldova seems determined to overcome these obstacles and reach its declared destination which is full membership in a community
“Energy remains another weapon Russia continues to use,” he added, pointing to promises of cheap gas supply from “a very un-transparent offshore company” to a “specific region”, namely Gagauzia, where a pro-Russian bashkan (governor) was recently elected.
When it comes to information and the media, Ursu added, “much of it is still controlled by Russian sources. It is very difficult to overcome, especially for democracies where we have to balance freedom of speech with curtailing some of those disinformation sources propagating hate, especially towards Ukraine.”
Energy shackles removed
When the invasion of Ukraine happened, Moldova was highly dependent on Russia for imports of natural gas, as well as for the electricity generated from Russian gas at power plants in the Transnistria region.
“Moldova was 100% dependent on Russian gas, and Russia never hesitated to use that leverage,” said Ursu.
In autumn 2022, Russia fulfilled the fears of the Moldovan government when Gazprom abruptly cut supplies. Chisinau then made the bold decision to stop
“We will be voting in the new National Security Strategy spelling out that Russia is the main national security threat and taking actions to build resilience in institutions with that threat in mind”
of European democracies and free markets. Never before has Moldova’s compass remained so fixed on its European future,” Andrews added.
Commenting on Russia’s role, Moldova’s ambassador to the US Viorel Ursu, said: “We see continuous efforts to try to change and influence both politics and the population.”
He detailed multiple approaches including illegal funding to new political projects ahead of the local elections.
importing Russian gas for consumption and send all its Russian imports to Transnistria. Instead, Chisinau secured new supplies from European sources – albeit at extremely high prices as this happened at the peak of the energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine.
Moldova has weathered the crisis after a painful year during which inflation rose above 30%. Now energy prices have fallen, and Moldova’s inflation had moderated to just 4.75% as of November.
www.bne.eu