Russia expects Moldova to continue to ban opposition parties

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized the ban Wednesday of the opposition political party, Shor, in Moldova.

Zakharova said the ban caused "a wide negative resonance" in Moldova and "further split and polarized Moldovan society."

"This decision was perceived as another violation by the authorities of the principle of democracy," she said. "It's not just about democracy as a model, it's about legality, about respect for the law."

Zakharova pointed out that many expressed disagreement and tried to protest, slamming the restrictions imposed on the party as "an attempt to settle scores with political opponents," and "a manifestation of disrespect for Moldovan citizens."

She cited Moldovan political scientists who linked the decision to ban the party with the elections of the head of Moldova's Gagauzia region that took place April 30 and May 14, where Shor party representative Evgenia Gutul won.

"There are concerns that such a practice of banning political parties may be applied to other opposition political formations in the country. And I can only confirm these fears, it will be so, they will not stop there," she said.

She also said the actions of Moldovan authorities "would hardly have been possible without the active support and patronage of the collective West."

"Westerners with the hands of Chisinau officials are trying to turn Moldova into another Ukraine," she said, adding processes that preceded the deterioration of Russian-Ukrainian relations, notably "villainizing of everything Russian," are now taking place in Moldova.

Asked if she believes Moldova is being prepared to incorporate into Romania, Zakharova said: "There is no even doubt about it."

On March 17, the Moldovan parliament approved a final reading of a draft law renaming the state language from Moldovan to Romanian.

According to a statement by the parliament's press service, Romanian will replace Moldovan as the country's language in all legislation published by the country, while "official," "state" and "native" will also be replaced.

REJECTION OF UN ACCESS TO KAKHOVKA DAM

Zakharova said Russia rejected a UN mission's request to inspect the Kakhovka dam area because of its "politicized position" and absence of "a unified standard."

"The main answer, the main principle is that either this is a unified standard -- then the UN secretariat should have noticed the situation on the Nord Stream 1 and 2, then it is necessary to answer the question from which side the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is being shelled," she said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed separately that proceeding from conditions put forward by the UN Secretariat, the goal of the mission was "to show Kyiv's control over the territories," not humanitarian assistance.

Turning to the NATO Air Defender-23 military exercises, she said "the legend" used during the drill shows that the alliance's efforts are directed at "the deterrence and even training of an offensive" on Russia.

"The number of engaged forces and military equipment -- and if we only speak about planes, this number amounts to 250, and some 100 of them are American -- makes it clear that Washington and its allies are developing plans of waging a war with a comparable opponent.

"It is no secret who this 'opponent' is. For decades Russia has been designated by NATO as 'a training target.'" she said.

The Air Defender-23 drill takes place less than one month after the Baltops-23 military exercise from June 4 - 16 on the border of Russia's Kaliningrad region, she said.

Zakharova said such a line, which Moscow sees as "reckless," may lead to a direct armed clash of nuclear powers.

"I think there is no need to explain once again the essence of the strategic risks arising in this regard and the potentially catastrophic nature of the further development of events in the worst-case scenario," she said.