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RUSSIA PUTTING A STRONG ARM ON NEIGHBORS
The New York Times
October 23, 2013 Wednesday
Late Edition - Final
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
CHISINAU, Moldova -- It was not enough for Dmitri O. Rogozin, a
deputy prime minister of Russia, to warn darkly that it would be
"a grave mistake" for Moldova to seek closer ties with Europe.
Mr. Rogozin, wrapping up a visit here last month, let fly a threat
about the coming winter in this impoverished former Soviet republic,
which is entirely dependent on Russian gas for heat. "We hope that
you will not freeze," he said.
The squeeze was just beginning. Next, the Russian Orthodox patriarch,
Kirill I, in a rare personal appearance here, denounced Western
Europe, "where religion is simply disappearing." And three days later,
the sharpest blow: Russian officials, citing vague health concerns,
banned Moldovan wine, one of the country's most important exports.
The bullying, which the Kremlin denies, is not directed at Moldova
alone. Ahead of a conference next month where the European Union
plans to advance political and trade accords with several ex-Soviet
republics, Russia has been whispering threats and gripping throats,
bluntly telling smaller neighbors that they would be better off
joining Russia's customs union with Kazakhstan and Belarus.
The frantic push to retain influence, with its echoes of cold war
jousting, reflects the still-palpable fury among Russian officials
over NATO's expansion into the former Soviet sphere and a desire to
halt a similar, eastward extension of European economic power. The
heavy-handed tactics have wreaked economic chaos throughout the region
in recent months.
In August, Russia suddenly stopped all Ukrainian imports at the border
for stepped-up customs inspections. It lifted the restrictions after
a week, but a senior economic aide to President Vladimir V. Putin
said that they could become permanent if Ukraine, as expected, signs
agreements with the European Union at the conference next month --
a step that the aide, Sergei Glazyev, said would be "suicidal."
In September, Armenia, which is heavily dependent on Russia for
security reasons, simply capitulated. After a meeting with Mr. Putin
in Moscow, President Serzh Sargsyan abruptly declared that Armenia
would join the Kremlin's customs union, scrapping years of work toward
agreements under the European Union's Eastern Partnership program.
Mr. Sargsyan's unexpected move shocked many Armenians and set off
a protest in Yerevan, the capital, by several thousand people who
noted that their country does not share a common border with any of
the customs union members. It also startled the Europeans, who began
scrambling to prevent further defections.
This month, Russia took aim at Lithuania, which has already joined
the European Union and whose capital, Vilnius, is the site of next
month's conference. Russia briefly stiffened customs inspections on
Lithuanian goods, and has banned milk and other dairy imports.
Nowhere, however, is the pressure more intense than here in Moldova,
a tiny, landlocked nation of 3.6 million people wedged between Romania
and Ukraine that is by far the poorest country on the Continent,
with annual economic output of about $3,500 per person -- less than
half that of Albania.
In addition to the ban on Moldovan wine, there have been rumors that
tens of thousands of Moldovans who work in Russia would be expelled in
an immigration crackdown, cutting off a financial lifeline for many
families. There are also fears of a ban on apples or other produce,
which would be devastating if imposed during harvest season.
Rather than intimidating leaders of the country's fragile coalition
government, however, Russia's tactics have only cemented their resolve
to complete the political and free trade agreements with the European
Union.
"The signing of these agreements is the only chance that Moldova has
in order to develop itself as a European country and in the European
spirit," President Nicolae Timofti said in an interview.
Mr. Timofti said it was clear that the ban on wine imports was about
politics and Russia's increasingly unrealistic goal of reuniting
the former Soviet republics in an economic alliance through the
customs union.
"We realize Russia has geopolitical interests in this area but there
is also a saying here -- 'You cannot enter the same river twice,'
" the president said. "It is impossible to recreate the union that
used to exist. However, Russia does take action to keep its influence
over this region."
In interviews, Mr. Timofti and other government officials said the
Russian approach was backfiring, both politically and economically,
leading businesses to reduce their reliance on the Russian market.
When Russia imposed a similar ban on Moldovan wine in 2006, officials
said, exports to Russia accounted for more than 70 percent of the
industry. Today, it is less than 30 percent, and several winery
executives said they had ceased doing business with Russia entirely.
"We stopped working with the Russian market in 2009," said Andrei
Sirbu, whose family owns the Asconi Winery in Puhoi, a village 20
miles southeast of Chisinau (pronounced KISH-e-now). "It's a very
attractive market when you look at the sales opportunities, the size
of it. Just in Moscow, you can do so much business, but when you put
the politics into it, that's the problem -- the political risk."
"To be honest, it's all politics," Mr. Sirbu added. "Why should we
suffer because of politicians?"
Moldova's official response has been to request clarification of
Russia's concerns about the wine so that they can be addressed quickly,
and to ask that any new technical requirements be specified in writing.
European leaders have condemned Russia's efforts and undertaken
countermeasures, like lifting limits in the current trade rules on
tariff-free imports of Moldovan wine.
"We will keep telling our friends in Moscow, it is unacceptable that
our partners are being subject to any kind of pressure," Stefan Fule,
the European commissioner for enlargement and neighborhood policy,
said at a recent news conference here with Prime Minister Iurie Leanca.
Mr. Fule said that the agreement under consideration "has clear
benefits not only to our neighbors, Moldova, but to our neighbors'
neighbors."
Despite being the only former Soviet republic where Communists regained
power, controlling Parliament and ruling the country from 2001 to 2009,
Moldova has long set its sights westward, so much so that in 2004,
it renamed its foreign office the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
European Integration.
For parts of the 19th and 20th centuries, Moldova was part of Romania,
and its language is virtually identical to Romanian. Early this month,
Mr. Rogozin, the Russian deputy prime minister, posted a Twitter
message suggesting that Romania had a secret plan to annex Moldova,
after supporting Moldova's integration into Europe.
Some Moldovan officials have also accused Russia of fomenting unrest in
the country by inflaming the dispute with Trans-Dniester, a breakaway
territory that has declared independence and where about a thousand
Russian troops remain stationed, and also by financing political
groups aiming to topple the ruling coalition.
The Communist Party, which still has the single largest bloc in
Parliament and currently opposes the political and trade pacts with
Europe, this month began demanding early elections in an effort
to dislodge the current government. On Tuesday, Parliament for the
second time in two weeks rejected a vote of "no confidence" in the
government proposed by the Communists.
The government nearly fell apart earlier this year after a bizarre
series of events that began last December when a businessman was
accidentally killed on a hunting trip involving some of the country's
top officials. Vlad Filat, then the prime minister, was ousted in
the ensuing controversy.
The current prime minister, Mr. Leanca, said that while the government
was pursuing overhauls, including anticorruption measures and an
overhaul of the judicial system, in hopes of eventually joining
the European Union, the outcome was not yet certain. "There are
still threats, and it comes from the fact that we have not reached
yet the irreversibility of our development, of our future path,"
Mr. Leanca said.
In an interview, he described Moldova as at a crossroads. "We could
go one way, which would mean embracing democratic values and on
those values to build a viable society, and a functioning society
with a prosperous economy," he said. "Or we can stay forever in this
gray area, where there is no rule of law, where people do not have
confidence in their future and therefore they leave the country."
Iulian Groza, a deputy foreign minister, said that focusing on Europe,
a market of 500 million people, was an obvious choice -- and one that
Moldova made long ago -- and that Russia should accept Moldova's
policy decisions. "We want to be treated by our bigger partners,
if not equally, at least with respect," he said.
President Timofti said he believed that Moldova would join the
European Union, and even predicted good relations with Russia in the
future. "Perhaps at some point in the future, Russia itself will
become a member of the European Union," he said. "And we will be
together again."
URL:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/world/europe/russia-putting-a-strong-arm-on-neighbors.html
The New York Times
October 23, 2013 Wednesday
Late Edition - Final
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
CHISINAU, Moldova -- It was not enough for Dmitri O. Rogozin, a
deputy prime minister of Russia, to warn darkly that it would be
"a grave mistake" for Moldova to seek closer ties with Europe.
Mr. Rogozin, wrapping up a visit here last month, let fly a threat
about the coming winter in this impoverished former Soviet republic,
which is entirely dependent on Russian gas for heat. "We hope that
you will not freeze," he said.
The squeeze was just beginning. Next, the Russian Orthodox patriarch,
Kirill I, in a rare personal appearance here, denounced Western
Europe, "where religion is simply disappearing." And three days later,
the sharpest blow: Russian officials, citing vague health concerns,
banned Moldovan wine, one of the country's most important exports.
The bullying, which the Kremlin denies, is not directed at Moldova
alone. Ahead of a conference next month where the European Union
plans to advance political and trade accords with several ex-Soviet
republics, Russia has been whispering threats and gripping throats,
bluntly telling smaller neighbors that they would be better off
joining Russia's customs union with Kazakhstan and Belarus.
The frantic push to retain influence, with its echoes of cold war
jousting, reflects the still-palpable fury among Russian officials
over NATO's expansion into the former Soviet sphere and a desire to
halt a similar, eastward extension of European economic power. The
heavy-handed tactics have wreaked economic chaos throughout the region
in recent months.
In August, Russia suddenly stopped all Ukrainian imports at the border
for stepped-up customs inspections. It lifted the restrictions after
a week, but a senior economic aide to President Vladimir V. Putin
said that they could become permanent if Ukraine, as expected, signs
agreements with the European Union at the conference next month --
a step that the aide, Sergei Glazyev, said would be "suicidal."
In September, Armenia, which is heavily dependent on Russia for
security reasons, simply capitulated. After a meeting with Mr. Putin
in Moscow, President Serzh Sargsyan abruptly declared that Armenia
would join the Kremlin's customs union, scrapping years of work toward
agreements under the European Union's Eastern Partnership program.
Mr. Sargsyan's unexpected move shocked many Armenians and set off
a protest in Yerevan, the capital, by several thousand people who
noted that their country does not share a common border with any of
the customs union members. It also startled the Europeans, who began
scrambling to prevent further defections.
This month, Russia took aim at Lithuania, which has already joined
the European Union and whose capital, Vilnius, is the site of next
month's conference. Russia briefly stiffened customs inspections on
Lithuanian goods, and has banned milk and other dairy imports.
Nowhere, however, is the pressure more intense than here in Moldova,
a tiny, landlocked nation of 3.6 million people wedged between Romania
and Ukraine that is by far the poorest country on the Continent,
with annual economic output of about $3,500 per person -- less than
half that of Albania.
In addition to the ban on Moldovan wine, there have been rumors that
tens of thousands of Moldovans who work in Russia would be expelled in
an immigration crackdown, cutting off a financial lifeline for many
families. There are also fears of a ban on apples or other produce,
which would be devastating if imposed during harvest season.
Rather than intimidating leaders of the country's fragile coalition
government, however, Russia's tactics have only cemented their resolve
to complete the political and free trade agreements with the European
Union.
"The signing of these agreements is the only chance that Moldova has
in order to develop itself as a European country and in the European
spirit," President Nicolae Timofti said in an interview.
Mr. Timofti said it was clear that the ban on wine imports was about
politics and Russia's increasingly unrealistic goal of reuniting
the former Soviet republics in an economic alliance through the
customs union.
"We realize Russia has geopolitical interests in this area but there
is also a saying here -- 'You cannot enter the same river twice,'
" the president said. "It is impossible to recreate the union that
used to exist. However, Russia does take action to keep its influence
over this region."
In interviews, Mr. Timofti and other government officials said the
Russian approach was backfiring, both politically and economically,
leading businesses to reduce their reliance on the Russian market.
When Russia imposed a similar ban on Moldovan wine in 2006, officials
said, exports to Russia accounted for more than 70 percent of the
industry. Today, it is less than 30 percent, and several winery
executives said they had ceased doing business with Russia entirely.
"We stopped working with the Russian market in 2009," said Andrei
Sirbu, whose family owns the Asconi Winery in Puhoi, a village 20
miles southeast of Chisinau (pronounced KISH-e-now). "It's a very
attractive market when you look at the sales opportunities, the size
of it. Just in Moscow, you can do so much business, but when you put
the politics into it, that's the problem -- the political risk."
"To be honest, it's all politics," Mr. Sirbu added. "Why should we
suffer because of politicians?"
Moldova's official response has been to request clarification of
Russia's concerns about the wine so that they can be addressed quickly,
and to ask that any new technical requirements be specified in writing.
European leaders have condemned Russia's efforts and undertaken
countermeasures, like lifting limits in the current trade rules on
tariff-free imports of Moldovan wine.
"We will keep telling our friends in Moscow, it is unacceptable that
our partners are being subject to any kind of pressure," Stefan Fule,
the European commissioner for enlargement and neighborhood policy,
said at a recent news conference here with Prime Minister Iurie Leanca.
Mr. Fule said that the agreement under consideration "has clear
benefits not only to our neighbors, Moldova, but to our neighbors'
neighbors."
Despite being the only former Soviet republic where Communists regained
power, controlling Parliament and ruling the country from 2001 to 2009,
Moldova has long set its sights westward, so much so that in 2004,
it renamed its foreign office the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
European Integration.
For parts of the 19th and 20th centuries, Moldova was part of Romania,
and its language is virtually identical to Romanian. Early this month,
Mr. Rogozin, the Russian deputy prime minister, posted a Twitter
message suggesting that Romania had a secret plan to annex Moldova,
after supporting Moldova's integration into Europe.
Some Moldovan officials have also accused Russia of fomenting unrest in
the country by inflaming the dispute with Trans-Dniester, a breakaway
territory that has declared independence and where about a thousand
Russian troops remain stationed, and also by financing political
groups aiming to topple the ruling coalition.
The Communist Party, which still has the single largest bloc in
Parliament and currently opposes the political and trade pacts with
Europe, this month began demanding early elections in an effort
to dislodge the current government. On Tuesday, Parliament for the
second time in two weeks rejected a vote of "no confidence" in the
government proposed by the Communists.
The government nearly fell apart earlier this year after a bizarre
series of events that began last December when a businessman was
accidentally killed on a hunting trip involving some of the country's
top officials. Vlad Filat, then the prime minister, was ousted in
the ensuing controversy.
The current prime minister, Mr. Leanca, said that while the government
was pursuing overhauls, including anticorruption measures and an
overhaul of the judicial system, in hopes of eventually joining
the European Union, the outcome was not yet certain. "There are
still threats, and it comes from the fact that we have not reached
yet the irreversibility of our development, of our future path,"
Mr. Leanca said.
In an interview, he described Moldova as at a crossroads. "We could
go one way, which would mean embracing democratic values and on
those values to build a viable society, and a functioning society
with a prosperous economy," he said. "Or we can stay forever in this
gray area, where there is no rule of law, where people do not have
confidence in their future and therefore they leave the country."
Iulian Groza, a deputy foreign minister, said that focusing on Europe,
a market of 500 million people, was an obvious choice -- and one that
Moldova made long ago -- and that Russia should accept Moldova's
policy decisions. "We want to be treated by our bigger partners,
if not equally, at least with respect," he said.
President Timofti said he believed that Moldova would join the
European Union, and even predicted good relations with Russia in the
future. "Perhaps at some point in the future, Russia itself will
become a member of the European Union," he said. "And we will be
together again."
URL:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/world/europe/russia-putting-a-strong-arm-on-neighbors.html