Moldova's Ties With Russia 'Must Radically Change' Under New President

With the arrival of Socialist Igor Dodon to Moldova's presidency the relations between Chisinau and Moscow are likely to radically improve, though it doesn't mean a u-turn from Moldova's stance on European integration, a former chairman of Moldova's Audit Chamber and ex-mayor of Chisinau told Sputnik on Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Socialist Party front-runner Dodon announced his victory in the the second round of presidential elections. According to Moldova's Central Election Commission, he secured 52.27 percent of the votes beating opposition candidate from Action and Solidarity Party Maia Sandu, who obtained 47.73 percent of votes.

"I think that relations [between Moldova and Russia] must radically change. Maybe, some articles in the Association Agreement with the European Union will be reviewed, but I don't think that we will see any radical steps on political reorientation of Moldova [from European integration], on changing course; otherwise he won't be able to stay in power," Serafim Urechean, who was a leader of Party Alliance Our Moldova, that later merged into the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova, said.

During his election campaign, Dodon pledged to restore "friendly relations" with Russia and even to take the country into the Eurasian Economic Union that comprises Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. In response to electorate's waning enthusiasm for the EU, he also promised to revoke Moldova's association agreement with the EU signed in mid-2014, though lately he seemed less committed to that pledge.

According to October's survey by Moldova's Institute for Public Policy, just 30.9 percent of Moldovans would currently support joining EU as a full member, compared to 44 percent favoring the Eurasian Customs Union.