Maia Sandu at Davos: "Moscow is trying to blackmail countries in the region by having control over energy resources"
Moscow tried to blackmail countries in the region by having control over energy resources, especially natural gas delivered to Europe. For the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, this meant devastating costs, said President Maia Sandu at the Economic Forum in Davos. The head of state urged world leaders to support Ukraine so that it can win the war initiated by the Russian Federation.
The Head of State emphasised that if a year ago the Republic of Moldova was one hundred percent dependent on Russian gas, today our country has other alternatives.
"We quickly managed to diversify resources and now we only receive 40% of gas from Gazprom. Russia counted on blackmailing us with these resources, but Europe managed to find solutions, which is not easy. I remember the discussions in April and May, when there were different proposals and many people did not believe that the EU would find solutions so quickly. Yes, we have to pay a price, and we are sorry that the citizens have paid a very high price. In Moldova, the gas tariff has increased seven times, and this is not a country where people have high incomes. You can understand what the costs are. But we believe in democracy and we want to be part of the free world and the solution is to be together", said Maia Sandu.
Radio Moldova reminds its audience that on the first day of being in Davos, President Maia Sandu had several bilateral meetings. Among them were the president of the Swiss Confederation, Alain Berset, the prime minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Odile Renaud-Basso. The discussions focused on bilateral and multilateral cooperation issues, especially in the context of the energy crisis, implicitly on infrastructure investment and support programs for strengthening energy independence, but also on small and medium-sized enterprise development programs, as well as on managing the flow of refugees from Ukraine.
The head of state reiterated to her interlocutors the invitation to come to Chisinau on June 1, at the meeting of the European Political Community. Maia Sandu also participated in a thematic conference on regional security. Referring to energy security, she mentioned that the Republic of Moldova was vulnerable, because it depended 100% on a single source of gas, from Gazprom, even before the war began.
Maia Sandu will be in Davos today and tomorrow, meeting with several international leaders.
