RUSSIA WILL DO EVERYTHING TO DISRUPT REFERENDUM ON MOLDOVA'S EUROPEAN INTEGRATION - EXPERTS' OPINION

Russia will do everything to disrupt the referendum on Moldova's European integration scheduled for the fall. This opinion was expressed by experts during a program on TV8 channel on Tuesday.

"It is clear that Russia has big interests in Moldova. It wants to change the power in Chisinau, to stop the country's European course. And in this context, the upcoming referendum on Moldova's European integration is even more important for Moscow than the presidential election. Therefore, Moscow will do everything to prevent the referendum from taking place due to low turnout, or the answer will be negative," said former Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Gheorghe Balan.

The same opinion is held by analyst Ion Tabirta.

"Russia has declared war on all Western international structures. It is fighting not only against NATO, but also against the European Union. And it will oppose the expansion and strengthening of the EU with all its might. Now the biggest danger for the so-called geopolitical interests of the Russian Federation is the European course of the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia. European integration takes these countries out of the "gray zone" of geopolitics. Russia needs them to remain in this gray zone, under its influence," Tabirta stressed.

According to him, Russia realizes that as the former Soviet republics integrate into the European Union, living standards will rise and Moscow will lose control over the situation.

"To fight European integration, Moscow is introducing a new narrative. It puts a de facto equal sign between NATO and the EU. In the context of Moldova, European integration is already seen from Moscow as a "violation of the principles of neutrality." Moscow is trying to impose the narrative that now the EU and NATO have become one, and that rapprochement with the EU is an open confrontation with Russia. This is a new narrative that pro-Moscow politicians in Moldova will use during the upcoming political campaign," Ion Tabirta warned.