“It should be noted that while President-elect Maia Sandu has become involved in discussions on minor problems, like the removal of the fence from around the Presidential Palace, her opponents from the PSRM - Shor coalition started to seriously solve problems that are existential for their political survival and for eventual revenge. It’s a pity that the chances are wasted. It is probably our fate to bet incorrectly…”
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Ahead of PSRM’s congress

In his weekly program, incumbent President Igor Dodon informed public opinion about his visit to Moscow, which will take place immediately after the expiry of his presidential mandate on December 23, 2020. Normally, Igor Dodon’s announcement should not surprise anyone. Everyone knows that there is no foreign politician in this world who would go to Moscow more often than Igor Dodon. However, the visit to Moscow alongside a group of colleagues from the party’s administration (min. 30.35-31.20) contains an intrigue.

It is the first visit after the defeat suffered in the presidential elections and before the congress of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM). The congress is to elect the party’s leader and to adopt the new political program. That’s why the visit to Moscow cannot be taken out of context. The important decisions should be consulted and agreed with the strategic partner. If the PSRM and its leaders had had at least a grain of autonomy, they would have solved the problems without involvement from outside. But this is not so and a proof is the dissatisfaction expressed by one of the leaders of the Russian imperial movement – the one who founded the movement’s branch in Chisinau: Russia lost Moldova and bids farewell to Dodon.

So, Igor Dodon’s political fate is to be decided during the next few weeks. In the given circumstances, special interest is held by the list of persons who will accompany him to Moscow – will the whole parliamentary group go, as on April 16, 2019, or only Igor Dodon’s potential rivals for the administration of the PSRM will go? Another interesting aspect of the visit refers to the hosts – will meetings be held only with officials from the Kremlin or also with representatives of the imperialist movement, which criticizes the Kremlin because it allowed enclosing Russia with a ring of fire from the UK up to Central Asia?

Anyway, the collective visit to Moscow is the main indictor of its importance. A conclusive proof is the fact that in April 2019, Igor Dodon and his sponsors from Moscow managed to ensure the strengthening of the PSRM’s group before the chess game with the coordinator of the power in the Republic of Moldova. The next step was the elimination from politics of Igor Dodon’s benefactor - Vlad Plahotniuc – who secured his victory in the presidential elections of 2016, but without the latter’s support the victory in the presidential elections of 2020 was impossible. So, Igor Dodon has what to reproach the sponsors from Moscow for, but the question is, if he is courageous enough to do it?

Doves and rams vs. magpies and wolves

To convince his sponsors from Moscow that the PSRM can be reanimated after the defeat in the recent presidential elections, the propagandists and lieutenants of the Russian imperialist movement launched a real offensive against the President-elect, blaming her for all the problems that accumulated in society during the last 30 years and, simultaneously, depriving her of the few powers enjoyed. In such circumstances, they resort to bizarre metamorphoses, presenting themselves as humble doves cheated by sly magpies. To create political maneuvering camp, during only several days they tried to pit different categories of citizens against others, naming this undertaking of the initiative by the PSRM. They intentionally split society so as not to allow cooperation between the ramps and the wolves as the incumbent President Igor Dodon and the leader of the parliamentary group of the PSRM Corneliu Furculiță do not stop to invite the President-elect to a dialogue and cooperation. It’s somehow strange that the PSRM’s propagandist dares to use such metaphors, knowing how experienced the two politicians are. But nothing is accidental. The mentioned example shows how acute the struggles inside the PSRM are before the Socialist leaders’ visit to Moscow and the party’s congress set for December 30.

Judging by the aforementioned, it seems that without the intervention of the strategic partner from Moscow, it will be impossible to stop the confrontation from inside the PSRM and to keep the party’s unity. Moreover, by all appearances, the further coalitions and cooperation of the PSRM with the Shor Party, which proved its efficiency in the undertaking of the political initiative by the PSRM against the President-elect, are likely to be accepted in Moscow. All these developments contain funny elements that that are disseminated by the PSRM’s propagandists when they speak about country traitors who want to subdue the Motherland to the oligarchic interests and foreigners. As if, without their mentions, it is not clear who forms part of the imperialist movement, who goes to Moscow after directives and who adopts laws one after another alongside Shor’s and Plahotniuc’s associates.  

Conclusions

The visit to Moscow that is to be paid by Igor Dodon and the PSRM’s administration is a very important event for the political developments of 2021. The following things depend on this visit:

• the decision of the PSRM’s congress concerning the election of the party’s leader and the adoption of its political program. The tasks of the political program adopted in the 12th congress of 2014 remained unfulfilled. The PSRM could not obtain the annulment of the Association Agreement with the European Union and the entry into the Eurasian Union. Moreover, the PSRM lost the presidential elections, while its strategic partner, Russia, found itself surrounded by conflicts that it provoked along its borders. The new program of the PSRM should address the new problems and contain solutions to these. For the PSRM, the dilemma is how to act – to further follow the line set by the Russian imperialist movement or to abandon it. It is not an easy choice;  
• the decision concerning the legalization of the parliamentary coalition with the associates of fugitive oligarchs Shor and Plahotniuc. On the one hand, the cooperation with oligarchic elements turned out to be very efficient and allowed the PSRM to undertake the initiative and to keep under pressure the newly elected President. On the other hand, the given cooperation diminishes the propagandistic zeal of the PSRM, causing serious damage to the party’s image;
• the decision concerning the acceptance by the PSRM of snap parliamentary elections. On the one hand, Igor Dodon needs to return to a public post so as not to be forgotten by his former voters, which can be done only through snap parliamentary elections. On the other hand, the causing of snap elections in the wake of the defeat in the presidential elections involves huge risks for Shor’s and Plahotniuc’s associates and for the struggle inside the party;
• the decision concerning the financing of the PSRM – through GAZPROM ((min.0.38 – 0.46) or through the Russian imperialist movement, which is through the new leader of this – Konstantin Malofeev, who financed a series of projects of the PSRM. We could form an opinion about this after the new program of the PSRM is adopted, etc.    

It should be noted that while President-elect Maia Sandu has become involved in discussions on minor problems, like the removal of the fence from around the Presidential Palace, her opponents from the PSRM - Shor coalition started to seriously solve problems that are existential for their political survival and the eventual revenge. It’s a pity that the chances are wasted. It is probably our fate to bet incorrectly.