Vassal state by the grace of Moscow
Secret document to show Kremlin plans for Moldova
03/15/2023 12:42 am
Months ahead of the invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin is apparently also considering how Moldova might move closer to Russia. A leaked paper from Moscow’s presidential administration shows how the country is to be subordinated to Moscow’s will.
A strategy paper said to have come out of the Russian presidential administration outlines a detailed plan for the former Soviet Republic of Moldova. If the Kremlin has its way, the small country should break away from the West – and strive for a future alongside Moscow. The corresponding document was leaked to an international media consortium, which also includes NDR, WDR and the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (SZ).
The paper, apparently drafted in the summer of 2021, therefore contains concrete plans for how the Kremlin wants to promote pro-Russian tendencies in Moldova in three stages up to 2030 and at the same time prevent the country from orienting itself towards the West towards NATO and the European Union. The document appears to have come from the same Kremlin experts who, at the same time, were drafting a paper on Moscow’s creeping annexation of Belarus. The SZ and its partners had already reported on this in February.
This time, however, Moscow’s plan for Moldova is less aimed at integrating the country into a Russian-dominated union state, writes the SZ. In the medium term, nothing else is at stake than the creation of a vassal state that is subordinate to the will of Moscow. A senior Western intelligence official who read both papers said Moscow’s goal in Moldova was “to increase pro-Russian influence in the country.” Russia sees the country “rather as a pro-Russian buffer” than as part of a new Russian empire. The Kremlin apparently wants to put “a stop sign to the West” and “use all means to prevent the country from becoming a member of the EU and NATO.”
According to the Kremlin paper, one of the central Russian goals for the next ten years is “to counteract attempts by external actors to interfere in the internal affairs of the republic, to strengthen NATO’s influence and to weaken the positions of the Russian Federation”. In this context, the USA, countries of the European Union, Turkey and the Ukraine are highlighted. At the same time, Moscow apparently wants to help when it comes to Moldova’s possible involvement in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) or the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – organizations that are dominated by Russia.
The war in Ukraine might mean that Moscow has less time to achieve its goals with Moldova, the SZ writes. In the EU and the USA there is concern that Moscow would like to create facts more quickly and that a possible coup in Moldova might then also put pressure on Ukraine from the West. This is indicated, among other things, by the escalation of the situation in Transnistria, which faces Russia.