German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday said she hoped Russian President Vladimir Putin would not try the same strategy in Moldova as he had in Ukraine, and expressed support for the country’s efforts to forge stronger ties with Europe, to Moscow’s chagrin.
The chancellor, asked at a news conference with visiting Romanian President Klaus Iohannis whether she thought there was a risk that Romania’s eastern neighbor could be in Moscow’s sights, replied: “Well, we hope not.”
Germany and EU member Romania feel “politically very closely linked to Moldova,” and would support the new pro-EU government of Moldovan Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici, she said.
Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries, wedged between Ukraine and Romania, has ratified a political and trade agreement with the EU, turning its back on a future in a Russian-led customs bloc.
“There are many small steps that show Moldova is our close partner,” Merkel said, citing the EU’s attempts to offset the impact on the Moldovan economy of Russia’s ban on imports of wine and food from Moldova in retribution for its overtures to the EU.
Iohannis said there were “no indications at the moment” that Moscow would interfere in Moldova.
Merkel and Iohannis said the crisis in Ukraine had put the spotlight on the situation of Transnistria, a breakaway sliver of Moldova with strong ties to Russia, which Moscow has warned Moldova it could lose if it moves closer to Europe.
Ukraine’s war against pro-Russian separatists was partly triggered by Kiev pursuing similar pro-EU policies to those now being adopted by Moldova, in the face of opposition from Moscow.
The center-right Romanian president said there was no need for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to take the part of ethnic Hungarians living in other countries in the region including Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia and Serbia.
Iohannis said he was in close contact with political parties representing Romania’s Hungarian minority, adding: “There is no Hungarian problem in Romania.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
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