President Igor Dodon left today in the Russian Federation, where he will participate in the parade held on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The two-day visit takes place at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Igor Dodon wrote on Facebook. That’s while several leaders from the former USSR announced that they would not attend the event.
The president of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, as well as the prime minister of Armenia, refused to go to Moscow. According to svoboda.ru, the refusal was justified by the danger of the coronavirus pandemic and by the quarantine measures caused by it. The Czech President reasoned the lack of worrying epidemiological situation in Russia. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will not attend the military parade on June 24. The announcement was made by Hideki Uyama, Ambassador with Special Missions for the GUAM + Japan cooperation format, an adviser to the Office for European Affairs of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Given the situation generated by the coronavirus pandemic in our country and abroad, Prime Minister Abe will not be present at this ceremony,” Japanese diplomat Uyama was quoted as saying by TASS News Agency.
However, the Pandemic didn’t scare the President of the Republic of Moldova, Igor Dodon, who on 19 June announced that he would participate in the military parade in Red Square dedicated to the “jubilee of the Victory Parade, which took place on 24 June 1945”. Moreover, our country has also sent 75 soldiers of the Guard of Honour to Moscow, despite the fact that the Russian Federation is the third country in the world by the number of infections with the new coronavirus.
The participation of the Republic of Moldova in this parade has aroused more criticism and discontent. Last week, Defence Minister Alexandru Pânzari was asked to be present in Parliament to explain the departure of Moldovan soldiers to Moscow. Deputy Oazu Nantoi noted that the participation of soldiers in the parade poses a danger to their health, as Russia is among the countries in the world most affected by a coronavirus, and is politically inappropriate.
“Representatives of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, separatist entities from Georgia, a state with which we are friends, are invited to the parade on 24 June. Therefore, the Moldovan soldiers will have to parade in front of them. And there is another moment – Ukraine, a neighboring country. In the framework of balanced foreign policy we should also take into account the reaction of Ukraine, which is fighting with the Russian Federation and paying with the lives of its citizens in Donbas,” said Oazu Nantoi.
Referring to the 75 troops sent by Igor Dodon to the parade, Health Minister Viorica Dumbraveanu told TVR Moldova: “I believe that, in this case, there are military commanders, there are those responsible, who must ensure the safety and protection of the health of these soldiers”. She also said that when the military returns to the Republic of Moldova, specialists will decide whether they should be quarantined or not.
Former Defence Minister Vitalie Marinuța called participation in the parade a lack of common sense during the period when the Republic of Moldova has a record number of Covid-19 illnesses.
“When some restrictions are asked to get rid of this virus, we make another sign of inefficiency or send our soldiers to Moscow. If we don’t forget history, we shouldn’t go and parade in front of them into Red Square. It’s a parade on the bones of our ancestors,” says Vitalie Marinuța.
Another former Defence Minister, Viorel Cibotaru, reveals that the Covid-19 pandemic is a serious basis for not attending the Moscow military parade.
“The event is purely propagandistic, made exclusively on the basis of the vision of the results of the Second World War, promoted by the Russian Federation,” Cibotaru said.
And expert Anatol Taranu states that participating in the parade organized on the occasion of what Moscow calls “Victory in the Great War for the Defence of the Fatherland” is a tradition in Dodon’s political conduct.
“Let’s see if in the Republic of Moldova the electorate will be able to understand this and sanction it for its irresponsible approach. He may be sanctioned if he is not re-elected as President. Not to mention the delicate situation of our soldiers’ participation in the parade in the country involved in the war on the Dniester,” says political analyst Anatol Tăranu.
The State Secretary of the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova within the Romanian Government, Ana Guțu, claims that Igor Dodon, just as Vladimir Putin, has not yet come out of the trenches.
“In the midst of the pandemic, Dodon puts on the tray of vassal opposite Moscow 75 “grey soldiers”, mobilized in the middle of the night to march “victory” in the Red square. Confused in the communist Soviet project, Igor Dodon, the one denied the memory of his people, we were deported and starved by the occupying “liberators”, desperately clinging to the Soviet relics with the thought of the second presidential term in a state devastated by theft and irresponsibility,” said Ana Guțu.
At the same time, the 24 June parade in Ufa, Bashkiria Republic, was canceled due to the complicated epidemiological situation in this region of Russia, RIA NOVOSTI News Agency reports. The announcement was made by the leader of the republic. Bashkiria is an autonomous Russian republic located in the southern part of the Ural Mountains. The President of the Autonomous Republic explained that the parade will be reprogrammed again, most likely for the autumn of this year.