CHISINAU. April 12 (Interfax) - Moldova may become a buffer zone of clashing interests in the current standoff between the West and Russia, Moldovan President Igor Dodon said.
"Part of the Western elite regards Moldova as a bargaining chip in the confrontation with Russia. For them the unsettled conflict in Transdniestria is a tool of pressure on Moscow. If the confrontation between the West and Russia continues, there is a great probability that some aggressors will get the idea of unfreezing the conflict, staging provocations and beginning some local wars to try to drag Russia here," he said on Wednesday night in a hotline with television viewers on Accent-TV channel.
"Some 200,000 Russian citizens live in Transdniestria and understandably Russia will not leave its citizens at the mercy of fate. If it interferes, the West will again paint Russia as an aggressor," Dodon said.
This should not be permitted, he said. The Moldovan president said that on Wednesday he spoke about this and discussed the situation with the ambassadors of all 17 EU countries that have embassies in Chisinau.
"We talked for over two hours and at least one third of the time was spent discussing whether there will be instability in Moldova or not and how to avoid it reasonably. I understand that we should have balance in this situation and remain equidistant from the scenarios in which this geopolitical rivalry is trying to drag us in," Dodon said.
The leadership of parliament and Cabinet of Moldova and the Democratic Party controlling them "apparently sees this otherwise," he said.
"Take Russian diplomats: we hold the first place in the world in the per capita number of expelled diplomats. Romania has over 20 million people and they expelled one diplomat, we have 3 million and we expelled three. This short-sighted approach of the leadership of parliament, government and the ruling party unfortunately is creating more risks and more problems for us," Dodon said.
"I really hope and I will do my utmost to try to get out of this situation without a new conflict in this region, in Moldova," the president said.