The PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky:
Today we will hold an extended meeting – the Security Council meeting to understand the risks, develop an action plan, set tasks to prevent the impact on the economy that will be associated with the energy crisis, or to minimize the losses associated with it.
I would like to talk about the external factor, about the politicization of the issue to begin with. It would seem, what does energy have to do with politics. One follows from the other in fact and we all depend on it. There are speculators naturally. There are always speculators. What happens on the market when there is a deficit? Speculation. Prices rise, speculation occurs. Some people who consider themselves politicians are engaged in speculation. Speculation in people's feelings, quality of life, anything – for their own benefit. We are all witnesses to the fact that some Moldovan politicians are doing exactly this, trying to destabilize the situation, trying to show the alleged result of the energy crisis, as it seems to them, trying to prick us somehow. I do not wish any harm, grief, or misfortune on my neighbors. I wish our neighbors well-being, stability, happiness and peace, so that it is warm at home, so that the light is on at home. When some challenge appears before Pridnestrovie and Moldova, I always hope frankly speaking that the challenge will unite our efforts. Not unite us, but unite our efforts to overcome, solve people's problems, make the lives of Pridnestrovians, the lives of Moldovan citizens, better. What is happening today is not some new situation. Moldova is trying to use the energy crisis against Pridnestrovie. I want to give another example – also illustrative. This is a pandemic. Remember, right? It was a global hysteria. There were deaths of people, lack of oxygen, lack of protection. European countries began to separate themselves from each other by borders, to take away protective equipment at airports. One country took away intermediaries from another and so on. How could we think that the pandemic would pass by Pridnestrovie? It would be stupid. I have always said that we do not need to figure out who invented the pandemic, in which laboratories, whether it is artificial or natural... This is all secondary. We need to get together and fight this disease, the pandemic, the virus. I also thought then that our neighbor, Moldova, was in similar conditions and that we would combine our efforts to fight the pandemic, of course. We will exchange experience, specialists, developments. This is normal. I received a completely opposite reaction. The entire people of Pridnestrovie received a reverse reaction. Let me remind you what it was. When the coronavirus infection was spreading, many states closed their borders as I already said. Ukraine closed its borders, as far as the Pridnestrovian crossing points are concerned. There was one open part of the border left – Palanca, that is, Ukraine supplied various goods only to Moldova. We were naturally forced to bring everything here via this route. What did we bring? Medicines, personal protective equipment, technical devices for hospitals, coronavirus hospitals, for people who were lying and waiting for help, basic pills, IVs, and so on. What did Moldova do? Let me remind you. The cars were parked in Palanca for a month or two. Without any reason. Just vehicles, trucks with essentials drove in and stayed at the border for a month or two. Ukraine let everything through without any obstacles at the same time. Absolutely. These were humanitarian aid. We had no complaints about Ukraine. Ukraine let them through, Moldova held them. Why was that? Because Moldova had its own plans – to use even the pandemic against Pridnestrovie. They were sure that we would fall apart, that we would not cope, that people would die in their homes, and no one would provide them with medical care. But they were wrong. We consolidated and got out of the situation, saving people from death, from coronavirus infection. Ukraine opened the crossing in Kuchurgan then, and traffic resumed. It was not Moldova that resolved this issue then, but Ukraine. There was the energy crisis then. Well, it would seem, what is needed? We need to combine efforts in order to somehow solve this problem. We have made a proposal to jointly Pridnestrovie and Moldova to appeal to Ukraine, to the Russian Federation, to maintain the transit of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine. The reaction of the Moldovan side is well known: they say that this is unacceptable, this is somehow incorrect, this is politically incomprehensible. They do not want to. They have their own goals. They are clear. I would like to quote here simply so that no one would say that I somehow chose these phrases out of context, you know. December 12 of this year. Political representative Serebryan. Here is his direct text, “I do not think that it will come to this. I admit that supplies may be suspended for 15 days in order to demonstrate something not only to Moldova, but to everyone. Although even this seems unlikely to me. I do not see the logic in a complete halt to supplies, including the Pridnestrovian region. It is possible theoretically that Russia will supply gas only for consumption in the region, but politically it is difficult. Tiraspol will have to choose: to die of hunger or of cold”. That is, the political representative of the Republic of Moldova Serebryan offers us two options in Pridnestrovie: to die of hunger or of cold. Neither the Prime Minister nor the President of the neighboring state make a remark to him, stop him, say that it is somehow wrong and incorrect to talk like that at the same time. No, they probably support such a position in relation to Pridnestrovie, offering us to die either of hunger or of cold. Another politician blames the Russian Federation for everything, says that Russia is holding Pridnestrovie hostage. And so on. There are many more different quotes here. I think you listen carefully to the media and are aware of the volume of statements that Moldovan politicians allow themselves regarding Pridnestrovie and a possible energy crisis. I want to deliberately upset Moldovan politicians. This will not happen. There will be no collapse. There will not be the disaster that they want for Pridnestrovie. That is why today's meeting is being held, it is dedicated to this.
