Russian-Moldovan relations

After its victory in the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812 , the Russian Empire annexed Bessarabia from the Ottoman Empire . This historical region, which was originally part of the Principality of Moldova , makes up most of the territory of modern Moldova.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Bessarabia gained independence for a short period of time, like the Moldavian Democratic Republic . In 1918, she entered into an alliance with the Kingdom of Romania , with which she has almost the same language and ethnicity, and in 1940, Romania was forced to transfer it to the Soviet Union . This led to the creation of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic .

The Moldavian SSR declared its independence from the USSR on August 27, 1991.

Transnistrian conflict

Immediately after this, a conflict arose between the Moldovan government and Transnistria, which escalated into war in 1992. The war was stopped by direct intervention of the Russian army under the command of General Lebed , and led to the emergence of the internationally unrecognized republic of Transnistria . After the ceasefire, two separate groups of Russian troops remained in Moldova: one peacekeeping regiment, which is part of the Joint Control Commission, and the 14th army, which was tasked with protecting the Kobasn ammunition depot. The military presence of Russia continues to this day.

In connection with the escalation of hostilities in Bendery, leftist forces in Moldova began protests for the resignation of the government and parliament, which allowed a civil war. In this regard, the head of government and the Minister of Defense resigned. On July 7, plenipotentiary representatives of the president of Russia arrived in the region. Through their mediation, a ceasefire was reached, and on July 21 in Moscow, Boris Yeltsin and Mircea Snegur, in the presence of Igor Smirnov , signed an agreement "On the principles for resolving an armed conflict in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova." The war ended with the freezing of the Transnistrian conflict and the entry of Russian peacekeepers into the conflict zone. Later, the Joint Control Commission and the Joint Peacekeeping Force were created. In Transnistria, 3,100 Russian, 1,200 Moldavian, and 1,200 Transnistrian troops were deployed as peacekeeping contingents ^[1] . Since the second half of 1992, with the mediation of Russia, negotiations began on the status of Transnistria, since 1993 the OSCE joined the peace settlement, and since 1995 - Ukraine ^[2] . Currently, part of the left bank of the Dniester and the city of Bender are controlled by Transnistria, while part of the territory declared by the PMR leadership as part of the republic is controlled by Moldova ^{[3] [4]} . In 2000, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin paid a visit to the Republic of Moldova. He was received by the President of Moldova P.K. Luchinsky ^[5] .

Relations between Moldova and Russia deteriorated in November 2003 after Russia proposed a solution to the Transnistrian conflict, which the Moldovan authorities refused to accept.

In mid-March 2014, the parliament of Transnistria asked Russia to develop a law that would allow the self-proclaimed republic to be a part of the Russian Federation ^[6] . In April, Transnistria appealed to the Russian leadership with a request for its recognition as an independent state ^[6] .

Product Conflicts

In 2006, a diplomatic conflict arose after March 27 of the same year, Rospotrebnadzor introduced a ban on the export of Moldovan wines to Russia, causing serious damage to the economy of Moldova, arguing that the large volume of alcoholic products imported into the Russian Federation does not meet sanitary safety ^{[7 ]} . After that, Rospotrebnadzor issued import permits for seven enterprises, but President Voronin banned them from exporting until the problem was fully resolved ^[8] . In the summer of 2007, more than 40 Moldovan enterprises again passed the sanitary-epidemiological examination and supplies were resumed ^[9] .

On July 2, 2014, the Moldovan parliament ratified the association agreement with the EU, signed on June 27 in Brussels ^[10] .

On July 7, at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov threatened to expel Moldova from the CIS free trade zone , which would lead to a transition to the most-favored-nation regime, which sets a weighted average tariff for the supply of goods of 7.8 percent ^[11] . Following this, the Ministry of Economic Development prepared a government decree according to which Russia intends to unilaterally introduce duties on certain types of Moldavian products (wine, meat, grain, sugar, fruits and vegetables) ^[12] .

On July 18, the Rosselkhoznadzor banned the import into Russia of Moldovan apples, pears, quinces, apricots, cherries and cherries in connection with the possible introduction of a pest - an oriental moth butterfly. Peaches, nectarines, plums and thorns were also banned ^[12] . And on July 21, Rospotrebnadzor announced the suspension of the import into the territory of the Russian Federation of Moldovan canned fruits and vegetables because of violations of the requirements of the law in the field of consumer protection ^[13] .

At the end of 2016, bilateral trade more than halved, and Moldovan goods almost lost Russian markets.

At the beginning of July, broadcasting of the Russian federal television channel Russia-24 for propaganda, as well as incorrect coverage of events in Ukraine, according to the Moldovan authorities, was banned in Moldova ^[14] .

Resuming Relationships After 2016

After the election of Igor Dodon as President of the Republic of Moldova in 2016 , there has been a tendency to improve Russian-Moldovan relations. In January 2017, President Dodon made his first foreign visit to Moscow. This was the first official visit of the President of the Republic of Moldova to Russia in the last 9 years.

At a meeting with Vladimir Putin , the state and prospects of bilateral trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation between Russia and Moldova and the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict were discussed. A joint action plan was adopted, providing concrete steps to develop mutual investment and trade ^{[15] [16] [17]} .

2017 Diplomatic Conflict

On May 29, 2017, Moldova declared 5 Russian diplomats as non grata persons. They were charged with recruiting mercenaries to participate in an armed conflict in eastern Ukraine ^[18] . In response, the Russian side also sent 5 employees of the Moldovan diplomatic mission in Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the decision of the Moldovan side “inspired from the outside” and “designed to quarrel the two countries” ^[19] .