o d w c, global media forum. the only way i can be on top is to create my own empire. discover a story with just a click away with the destination, right. find out they stuck in entries with the full 5 man named treat her as the fighting, growing zone in ukraine for thought for some of the countries on the edge of the war zone are stable of a these days. just ask mo bova me constitutional provision of neutrality is not enough to ensure moldova security that's mobiles foreign minister nico passcode is government struggling to combat hybrid attacks from russia and it's supporters

on the streets. anti government protested multiplied. so a bomb hoaxes, cyber attacks and plots to bring down the government president maya found to insist that while she's in office, the country will hold on to democracy and freedom. but common, if you crane were to lose the war or get tracked and the fail made, just how long could this pro western state even hope to survive nickel progress. good, welcome to closing. so thank you for inviting me. you living on one of the world's most dangerous tight ropes right next door to the war in ukraine. how fragile is the situation you come? i think whole of europe is fragile his days and of course, mold over the country next to ukraine is in a very difficult region at a very difficult time. at the same time, what the last 2 years showed was that ukraine is able to resist the ukrainian

society, the ukrainian political system. the ukrainian army has managed to fight the beck to resist, to liberate some territories. and by doing so, they also offered moldova a greater degree of security even with fear feared a year ago. today of freed sections, fruits, courage, ukraine is also defending, not just ukraine, but moldova as well. and that is something that allows moldova, a degree of smart capacity a to continue to focus on our forums on managing our economy. really. and when you are a pro western government, you're under constant threat from hybrid russian warfare, literally hundreds of bomb hoaxes. attempts to inside violent demonstrations. cyber attacks and people squeezing your economy. fake bomb ballard's kitchen the the like

out. yet libyan extremely busy managing the consequences of the war. we've had some $600000.00 refugees crossing our territory to be around 3 percent for population that averages from ukraine. and yet, we have managed to kill, keep calm and peace are in our country with managed to keep stability. this situation is so complicated, but we don't face military risks today because we, ukraine is resisting. and we are able to focus on managing velva threats. but your interior minister says that her situation is extremely volatile. she said democracy in peace in europe are russia's next targets. moldova stands in the way of russia's intention to break europe stability. we can only keep it and protect it if we're united, but you don't have that unity in your country. do you the opinion polls suggest

it's been severely tested right now while we are united in moldova, in our desire to keep peace on our territory. everybody. everybody yeah, the absolute majority, you dont have people in moldova arguing or calling for russian tanks to approach our border. we have as any normal democratic society, we have people who have different political preferences, sometimes geopolitical preferences. but even roles who disagree with the government want to leave in a peaceful country, he really pro moscow park is enabled, delaware. she currently enjoy greater support than you hate. now it's not true. i even forced power to switch before were openly promot school wants to live in a country that is peaceful. that is democratic war. they have the freedom to protest to where they have the freedom to operate. so can't the parties, we've a certain pro russian history have partly devised their approaches and they want to leave in a peaceful country. they don't want to live in

a dictatorship. they don't want to live in a war zone. in february, your president publicly accused russia plotting to overthrow the government. russia denied it. this was information supplied by ukraine's president zalinski. how close do you think your government came to been talking? i don't think it came close. ah, we literally went with men as it was derailed more than one attempt to destabilize moldova. we've managed to derail several attempts to attack police to take over public buildings. our institutions are very alert of intelligence serve as the ministry of interior, other agencies, everyone is very alert. but the last year has proved that we are able to keep the situation reasonably call given verbiage and believe. and of course, with this type of threats, we know that last month your intelligence service expelled to farmers without seeing which country they were from, accused them of taking pride in versus activities to cause a violent change to the constitutional order. that's an incredibly serious charge.

why did you let these people go? well, charging them with something a serious. well, we have room, but i have been several occasions just this here we did not let. ah, quite a lot of foreigners to come from the country because many of them were suspected of trying to plot violence as in the law or trying to destabilize, ah, mold of, and politics or other measures. a few weeks ago we did not lead some 20 serbian citizens. for example, entering the country are invariably the several people inside become chew on serious charges. why do you let them go? well, in this specific case, they will not comment in details, but there are also people who have been arrested for attempts to try and to stoke up violent health and health. in february, you president said who prosecutors and spies needed more powers to combat the threat from the kremlin? why don't they have those powers?

well, there is a conversation about increasing some of those powers, but they do have a now more equipment to deal with. some threads and we've increased significantly our corporation. we've our partners. we've romania with the countries of the european union with united states with ukraine. you, you, yourself quoted president zelinski. so there is a lot of information sharing. where is a lot of our mutual support and it was difficult region at this difficult time cannot guarantee, but we know the full extent, what we know is whether it's not the 1st block isn't on the 1st attempt to destabilize mold or with cold through the previous attempts from one attempt to the other was written out, please. it is yes. when a clear our president said it, our head of intelligence said it and the us a russia is working together a wave. some mold ovens fugitive some oligarchs, and they work together to destabilize moldova, to bring violence on the streets of moldova. and so far they failed. in february,

you pushed through a so called separatism law, making it illegal to promote espionage and treason. statute also bands, actions that pose a serious threat to the security of the are these shoes only now being treated as crimes late as well. when you've been under threat for 30 years, what would happen earlier? do we have a problem with separate history, jim sales? so even, even before our independence are in line to trust me, so trust me, trend region of mold over yes was an illegal russian military presence there. but for the last 30 plus years, the situation around this region has been mostly stable. mostly coun, we've been talking to the trustees trend regional representatives about 3 integration and our methods. and now we're way of trying to reintegrate the country is dialogue, diplomacy, negotiations. that's what we're doing. and the same time,

given the much more much higher security risks in the, in the region. we did adopt these provisions in the day in the criminal code so that we are able to penalize if we need to people trying to undermine the territorial integrity of our country. at the same time while talking to the trustees trained representatives, others concept contacts, we have a deep to prime minister in charge for integration, who is meeting his counterparts. which if negotiator, in with trust me 3 and the region there have been several conversations and discussions in the last year. and i can tell you that the absolute majority of people on both sides are free. when nissan including most representatives of his separatist leadership, dont want to leave in the war zone. so we're at present these trend separately. the government, the fact that they have russian station there. and yeah, of course visitors, much choice of the situation is complicated, but that is clearly when the mildly yeah, you've been hosting

a clear commitment to manage the differences. we've our separatist region for peaceful means and dialogue, negotiations for to what we're doing. let me take you back to march 11th. the night before. big protest demonstration must have been held and your capitol police are reported to have infiltrated and broken up a group, allegedly run by russian f. s. b agents were trying to organize clashes at that demonstration. how serious was this incident? all of these events are serious, but so he is our capacity to deal with them. 25 people were detained, apparently, yes, including the russian agent. well, they were into tend to recruit and trade local groups to cause trouble. several people were detained, several people were interrogated. but other means for each of the police and the intelligence services are dealing with the situation. and i'm telling you, yes, message asians are serious at the same time. so is our capacity to keep the coun

and stability on our streets and would alert you keep saying that we'll have all the people been released and were involved with this operation. i'm. i'm not in a position to give you, you know, a breakdown of each individual and the, to each stage of his procedures. and he's interested in another way that do you have any idea of how many of these groups are still operating in your country? well, even of course we're monitoring several of his groups, but i don't think anyone being what more than 5 e less the intelligence services of police are working on vet. what we know that the constant threat must constant threat. what is another taishan of his friend, but the constant failure to bring violence on the streets in kitchener? and the reason for that is that apps, the absolute majority of the people, the absolute majority of the political parties, including most political parties that do not support the government. they also

don't want to live in a country where you have violence of mistreat. so, but it's a clear societal consensus behind managing the political process in moldova fraud, standard democratic procedures. the view of the european council on foreign relations is that march 12th, was a preparatory and reconnaissance exercise for the russian operatives. not a full dress rehearsal, but an opportunity to test the responses of your security services and the coordination mechanism among the various agencies to buy that. well, a we've been vis. mold for over a year, but it's a constant attempt to impose stress on moved over on our society, on our economy, on our political system. you mentioned it yourself. cyber attacks, fav fake mom alerts, trying to infiltrate, mold over people who are supposed to destabilize the country. so what you described is a near constant situation, but at the same time we've been living with this type of situations we've been

managing to keep stability. we've been coping this type of stress, and we'll continue to do so. the conclusion of the european counselors that russian actions strongly suggest moscow is preparing for a full scale insurrection in moldova and upcoming presidential elections in 2024 and parliamentary elections would give them a window of opportunity. is that a scenario that you give any credence to? well go that's coming from a think tank. oh, fits their opinion. what they can tell you the only people who talk is, i mean most, no, no, no, but i mean most elections are unpredictable. what they can tell you with clarity is that the absolute majority of the people in the old over want to be living want to live in a country that is free, stable and peaceful. and this is what this government is offering are even on the opposition side, most opposition parties also want to keep peace come and the liberty of our country

. most october, the washington post reviewed documents obtained by ukrainian intelligence, which showed that russia's f. s b had channeled millions of dollars to a network of mold, oven politicians. the aim being to push the country away from the you and towards moscow. do you know which of your politicians belong to that network is receiving millions of dollars. well we have had politicians who stole hundreds of millions of dollars from the mold over population. and many of them have received indeed, russian cash. some of them are being investigated but that they would again tell is that they failed faith failed to derail moldova. from the path to the european union and from democracy and they will tell me and have none the less infiltrated your structures. yes. and that, but may still be the case. yeah. that may still gonna do that out. can i? it's quite clear with russia has been supporting political parties in moldova,

and political and politicians. yes, ma tentatively. what influence with money with these millions of dollars of it's quite likely. yes. do you know you can trust in your friendship? well is, oh, what we know is that visit terms to buy, to, to do, to rail, to many bill late have largely failed. moldova has been a democracy for 30 years. all our governments have changed as a result of elections. several attempts by some leaders to impose autocratic rule in moldova failed. several attempts to derail mold or from the path to the europe ian union, including the previous president, don, including by an oligarchy, old model of a few years ago. blackwood new b all failed to derail moldova from the path to the eel. and i'm very confident that our society will strong, will stay strongly engaged and will support us in bringing the concrete interview

or opinion. just days before the president spoke about a coup attempt your prime minister, natalia, completer resigned, blaming crises caused by russian aggression. and not a great turn perhaps to have a government re shuffled with sheep where she told to resign or was she sacrificed because the countries facing huge economic problems and someone had to take the blame. but it's the same that the, it's the same majority empower into the same president and the more to learn about her resignation. what did she jump over? she pushed well as a mutual decision, attends with children as well, but at the same time, very never even worse than well, there was a conversation and there was a joined decision of the representatives of the parliamentary majority to change of a prime minister. most of the government is the same, the president there's the same. the parliamentary majority is the same. but there has been a change in prime minister, a sacrificial law. know because there was

a prime minister. the new prime minister has more background in his a former minister of interior. his he is a former national security adviser to the president. so of his decision was based on the idea of it, looking into the near future mold over will face and he's facing significantly increased security to risks and therefore are the focus and now is much more, it's much more emphasis on venue to manage the security situation. than the previous prime minister, napoleon villiad, so mostly comes with an economic background. and that is what explains this change? what makes you think the replacement prime minister will be able to do any better. i mean, the reality is that they have to deal with the same run inflation, running it around 30 percent utility bills of hit. the roof, poverty is increasing. what makes you think 1000000 premises? what vs governing team of reach? the former and the current prime minister are part of the same team. i and i am

part of this team and the to the team of president by santa we've managed to cope with video 6 in the last year. i will give you a couple of examples for the last winter is the 1st winter in moldova, his history into which we went with significant gas reserves. we've managed to go for this winter, we're vacating on and the lights on making october november our electricity, security of electricity supply was threatened because of the russian brutal bombing of ukrainian or electricity infrastructure. we had several instances of blackouts, but none of the less we've managed to insure a fraud for winter with delight in our homes were on. so our government team has managed to avoid and has managed to manage a we've calm and efficiency, massive problems. a lot of work you use this, but a recent poll by magenta consulting shows 56 percent blaming the government for

their economic hardship. ah, at the same time the governing party of external solidarity and prison. my son arvin most popular politicians by far in the country, and we do continuously enjoy a high level of support. of course for 2 percent inflation and 7 fold increase in gas costs for fall increase in electricity costs. when negative effect of rushes, brutal war on mold of ease or rushes, brutal war on ukraine is imposing car chip on our population. our ease generating negative effects from dozens of countries in the world. bob is extremely exposed. and what we've managed with the risks and we'll continue doing so this look is your relationship with nato, its boss, ian stoba call do a close and highly valued partner. and despite the pressure you are under moldova, as constitution still declares the country to be neutral and even what's been

happening in your country, how long do you think that utility will last? so the constitution was adopted in 1994. so this provision on moldova neutrality has been there for almost 30 years for change. well, what is clear is that mold over definitely needs and has already started changing its security and defense policy. we've been increasing go as he could attend defense capabilities. we have been dramatically an increase and very rapidly expanding and deepening our cooperation with of those countries. unorganized ations that support peace in moldova liberty, in moldova. and here of course i would start with romania, whither united states. we have germany with france, we've made to wither european union. we've been very busy. our strengthening mold overseas could attend you fantastic to come back to that issue that neutrality because in january or defense minister anatoly necessity said you were now asking

western partners, presumably nato, for air defense system. and he said the war in ukraine and showed that lot overs neutral status and the discussion about mold overs. demilitarized stages are no longer current. moldova is neutral, status is no longer current. that's quite a significant change. a policy isn't. so you're now going to see membership of nato at this stage, but it's a political conversation in moldova, about the best ways to ensure our security. let's make the decision pleasing the decision that made mulder little steakhouse is no longer transitional, are taken by the parliament. so was he speaking out of town, was he not authorized? what was doing today is about increasing security in defense cooperation with the european and we've nato and the member states of his organization. is he wrong? the defense lu susie rober, they can tell you is that the constitutional provision of neutrality is not enough to insure moldova security. what is going to insure our security is

a strong partnership and strong support from those countries that support us and our liberty. and these are the member states of nato and the european union. and these 2 organizations listed progress goes, sounds like the decision has already been made that you're just not prepared to formally announce out this neutrality is no longer in place. well, neutrality is a constitutional provision. that is in place at the same time, it's not in our paper only, or it's not enough to keep the security of our country. and we are working day and night to increase my security of our country by strengthening our security and defense partnership. we've countries events that support that and cure i would liked also to i'm a quote president across your kindness of romania who several times said that under no circumstances that romania would abandon moldova and on the full spectrum of

freds, romania would always stand by moldova would always support moldova and that something which we value in moldova, it's something which gives us reassurance. are in our future in our european future and in our ability to keep moldova free and part of the free world to give her and along we've romania and all other partners from the european union and nato. do you believe if we look at the war that's going on in ukraine? do you believe that there can be a full and complete victory by ukraine as president soleski is holding out for the moment or in montalvo would very grateful to ukraine. smell? would i asked yes for defending themselves, and by doing so defending moldova. and our hope and the hope of our society is that ukraine would liberate its territories and our continent and ukraine, and moldova, and the other countries in europe can go back to

a situation where europe is peaceful. countries are not addressed, territories are not occupied and we do hope and we do support in moldova, ukraine's liberation a fall of its territory, used to the non. so my question, do you believe that is still possible? well i, when you're out of house, yes. and i cannot sleep at night, believe it is me name or mean, or you can predict the future. i'm asking you what you believe you're on the front line a. so what we hope is that ukraine will do that. and the west europe, the united states, all the countries in the world for home, for which international law matters will support ukraine in this endeavor. all the countries that want to be protected by international law need to support ukraine as well, in its capacity to liberate its territories brutally occupied by rush. and if you

crean should lose or get stuck in a semi permanent stalemate, what then for you? well, from although as a government we have a duty to be preparing for all kinds of scenarios for negative or positive. so we have to prepare for all kinds of scenarios, including that scenario. of course for easier scenario for positive scenarios, it's easier to prepare but as a government would totally obliged to be preparing for the full spectrum of scenarios including this one scenarios which are even worse or better. but generally, i am confident in moldova as future. i am confident in our capacity to keep peace and liberty and the path to the european union, but as a strong societal desire to continue yvette and we in moldova corp, this war will come to an end. as soon as possible that ukraine will liberate its territories and the europe and, and the united states and canada and japan and all the countries that support the

freedom of ukraine will continue being strongly engaged in supporting ukraine. and by doing that would also are helped moldova, overcome the negative effects of this war. you can profess school, thank you very much for being a conflict. so thank you. ah ah, with

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