Russian paper: Victory parade could spark Russia-Moldova scandal
Because of its difficult economic situation, Chisinau has not yet decided whether to send representatives to the Victory Parade in Moscow on May 9, said Moldova's Defense Minister Vitalie Marinuta. But Kommersant sources say the true reason for refusing to participate is the exclusion of Romania in the march.
The economic situation in Moldova is difficult. But these problems are unlikely to interfere with dispatching Moldovan representatives to the parade, Moscow believes. "The idea was to send an eight-member group, including four war veterans. Russia is prepared to pay for their flight, accommodation and meals," said a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry. "The arrival of the delegation is symbolically important. After all, Moldova is one of the former Soviet republics. It is Russia's ally and a CIS partner."
The mention of economic difficulties is a pretext, according to a newspaper source close to the Moldovan government. "The reason [acting President of Moldova] Mihai Ghimpu is not hurrying the decision is because Romania is not invited to be in the parade," the source said.
But no one has invited Romania, because until 1944, when Soviet troops liberated the country, Romanian troops had been fighting on the side of Nazi Germany, the Russian Foreign Ministry explained.
Chisinau's efforts to show solidarity with the Romanian authorities are easy to explain: lately, Bucharest has become the main foreign policy partner for the coalition Moldovan government that came to power after parliamentary elections in July of last year. Late in January, Romanian leader Traian Basescu declared during his triumphant visit to Moldova that Romania would allocate Chisinau a 100 million euro grant through 2013 - a good amount according to local yardsticks.
Seen against the background of a particularly warm Moldovan-Romanian relationship, which was practically frozen during Communist rule, ties between Chisinau and Moscow look inexpressive. Right after the elections, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pledged $500 million in loans for Moldova. But in the course of the October CIS summit in Chisinau, Russian officials spoke in terms of a hundred million. And even this amount has not yet been made available to Moldova.
Under these conditions, Chisinau is increasingly speaking about the need to withdraw Russian troops from Transdnestr. In addition, on Ghimpu's initiative, it was decided not to call May 9, 2010 Victory Day, as is common in Russia, but rather "the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II." On top of all this, Chisinau decided to institute the Memorial Cross order to coincide with that date and be awarded to veterans of both the Red Army and the Romanian army.
RIA Novosti / Kommersant (Russia)
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