CHISINAU, February 22. /TASS/. Russia is not interested in destabilizing the situation in Moldova after the upcoming parliamentary election, Moldovan President Igor Dodon said in an exclusive interview with TASS.
"As for Russia, it is not interested in destabilizing the situation in our country, given complicated developments in Ukraine. It may create serious problems for Russia, including the risk of being involved in a new conflict because Russian peacekeepers are deployed to the unrecognized Transnistria, where there also are arms depots containing outdated munitions that Russian military servicemen are protecting," the Moldovan president pointed out. He added that he had recently had many contacts with officials from the European Union, Russia and the United States.
"Judging by what they told me, influential foreign players don’t want our country to become a new hotspot of tension," Dodon said.
However, in his words, there is still a risk of destabilization. "I think it stems more from interior factors, primarily from the ruling pro-EU coalition’s reluctance to cede power," he noted.
The Moldovan president earlier called on his supporters to be ready to take to the streets over the weekend or after the February 24 parliamentary election. According to Dodon, the pro-EU Democratic Party, which controls the parliament, may try to rig the election. "As head of state, I have been trying to prevent tensions from escalating for the past two years. But now, the people just won’t understand if we fail to give a tough response to possible unlawful acts and attempts to ignore the position of the president and the party that supports him," Dodon explained.
According to opinion polls, the Socialist Party, which supports the Moldovan president, is capable of receiving about half of parliament seats. The vote will be held under a combined electoral system: 50 lawmakers will be elected on party lists and another 51 in single-seat constituencies.
