President of Moldova called on the EU and US to continue sanctions against Russia
The President of Moldova, Nicolae Timofti, called on the European Union and the United States of America to extend sanctions against Russia.
During a meeting on Saturday with the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Bohuslav Sobotka, who arrived to Chisinau on a visit, the President of Moldova recalled that the separatist region of his country, Transnistria, was the Kremlin’s "first experiment" in instigating a Pro-Russian separatist conflict.
Moscow supported the separatists in Transnistria before beginning to support the separatists in Ukraine, which triggered the Western sanctions, Timofti added.
"And Russia’s interest is to maintain its influence in Moldova, which creates serious obstacles to the rapprochement of Moldova with the European Union," he stressed. According to the President of Moldova, Russia continues to support separatists in Transnistria and tries to spread the policy of separatism in other parts of Moldova. Therefore, Timofti said that the sanctions of the EU and the United States are necessary and they should continue.
Both the EU and the U.S. claim that sanctions imposed against Russia for its aggression in the east of Ukraine will be in effect until full implementation of the Minsk Agreements on the settlement of the situation in the region. However, while the U.S. sanctions are introduced and continued by the decree of the President of the United States, the EU extension of sanctions requires approval of all member countries each time. The action of the main package of the economic sanctions of the European Union expires at the end of the month.