Dodon calls Moldovan govt's decision to leave CIS Electrical Energy Council attempt to escalate tensions in relations with Russia
CHISINAU. Aug 16 (Interfax) - Moldovan President Igor Dodon has criticized the government for the intention to withdraw from the CIS Electrical Energy Council.
"The Moldovan government is trying to escalate relations with Russia yet again with the republic's withdrawal from the CIS Electrical Energy Council. This is another step towards artificially escalating tensions between Moldova and Russia. I strongly condemn this step of the government, which is at odds with national interests of the country, i.e. the establishment and preservation of a partnership and mutually advantageous relations with both the West and the East," Dodon told a Chisinau television channel from Mount Athos he was visiting with other pilgrims on Thursday.
'The government is trying to escalate relations with Russia, using a plausible excuse," Dodon said.
"Their move has at least two goals. The first goal is domestic: they want to create public tensions shortly before the 2019 parliamentary election, reinstate geopolitical items on the agenda, and escalate tensions in the relations with Russia to please pro-European unionists. The other goal is external: they want to prove to their 'curators' in the West that Moldova pursues the 'right' course of the exacerbation of relations with Russia," Dodon said.
Moldova joined the CIS Electrical Energy Council in 1992, he said.
"No one has been impeding our energy cooperation with other countries, including Romania. What is more, Romania has been buying electricity from the Transdniestrian region of the Republic of Moldova for years," Dodon said.
The Moldovan Economy and Infrastructure Ministry published a draft government resolution on its official website this week. The draft said that "the agreement regulating interstate relations between CIS member states in the field of electrical energy failed to meet Moldova's energy security priorities," considering the project, which would connect power grids of Moldova and Romania to one another.
The CIS Electrical Energy Council was established in 1992 as an intergovernmental body.