Deputy PM Rogozin accepts govt invitation to visit Moldova yet demands security guarantees
MOSCOW. Aug 2 (Interfax) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has accepted the invitation of Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Octavian Calmic to visit Moldova in September yet he needs guarantees of security and the ability of his place to cross the airspace of all countries in transit.
"I have received an invitation from Mr. Octavian Calmic. It was sent recently, a couple of weeks ago. He invited me to visit Chisinau in fall. I was pleased to receive the invitation. I wonder though what Mr. Calmic means, how he will ensure security of the invited Russian persons, and how the snot of their Romanian patron will be wiped. It is hard to tell, but this is no longer our concern," Rogozin told a Moldovan TV channel, NTV, in an interview.
Rogozin said he had accepted the invitation. "I am ready to visit on a number of conditions. Yet I repeat that I could pay this visit. I mean if this is not an invitation to take off but an invitation to land," he said.
Rogozin said he wished to continue his activity on the ground, including in Tiraspol and Chisinau.
Moldova cannot "simply cut the world map with scissors and leave the EU entirely for itself," Rogozin said. He noted that he was the Russian co-chair of the intergovernmental commission and Moldova would have to negotiate with him "whether they like it or not."
"The Russian leadership will make no change to my status, quite the opposite, everyone will insist that I negotiate with Moldova and, definitely, with Transdniestria," Rogozin said. "Therefore, they will have to decide sooner or later as to how they will restore what they have ruined so lightly and carelessly."
Rogozin confirmed his plans to meet with Moldovan President Igor Dodon during a trip to Iran on August 5. "I am due to speak with Dodon indeed. As the president has named me the Russian representative to the inauguration of the new Iranian president and as Igor Nikolayevich is also going there, we will have a meeting in Tehran. Yet without Churchill," Rogozin said.
The negotiations will focus on economic matters, but security issues and ways of keeping peace in the Dniester area will also need to be discussed in the light of the latest events, Rogozin said.