ACTING PRESIDENT GHIMPU DISCUSSES RUSSIA,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHISINAU 000896

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/UMB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/27/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR KDEM MD
SUBJECT: ACTING PRESIDENT GHIMPU DISCUSSES RUSSIA,
TRANSNISTRIA, AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM WITH DAS
RUSSELL

Classified by: Ambassador Asif J. Chaudhry for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: In a November 19 meeting with DAS
Dan Russell, Acting President (and Speaker of
Parliament) Mihai Ghimpu criticized Russian
actions in Transnistria and the Caucasus, made
recommendations about the Moldova-NATO
relationship and the five-plus-two, and described
plans for a national referendum on a new
constitution that would permit a simple-majority
election of a President by Parliament. End
Summary.

"Russia Wants Another Kaliningrad in Transnistria"
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2. (C) Agreeing that good relations with all
neighbors should replace the principle of spheres
of influence, Ghimpu complained that Russia wanted
"another Kaliningrad" in Transnistria, and had
dodged its responsibility for solving the conflict
by resorting to a "Talk to Smirnov" ploy. Beyond
the issues of Russian troops stationed on Moldovan
soil, he claimed, the Russians also helped
maintain the destabilizing Transnistrian regime by
ignoring its GazProm debts, and providing funds
for the regime's debts, salaries, and pensions.


3. (C) Ghimpu put the issue in terms of Moldova's
decades-long "suffering from Russia's interest":
war, collectivization, deportations, and refusal
to admit what actually happened in the 1940s. He
said that the Russians had asked Moldova to sign a
document at the CIS Summit praising the War to
Defend the Motherland; Ghimpu said he refused:
"Sorry. It was an occupation." Ghimpu also noted
his displeasure with the Russian request to have a
"First Ladies Concert" at the CIS Summit. Ghimpu
said that he agreed at first, but then asked his
wife not to participate: the Russians, he noted,
had politicized the event by adding the first
ladies of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Concluding
his remarks on Russia, Ghimpu stated his hope that
a new political class in Russia would give up on
the imperial way of doing things, and rely on its
economy and great culture to conquer through soft
power.

Liberal Party Policy on five-plus-two and NATO
-------------- -


4. (C) In a break from the four-party Alliance for
European Integration, Ghimpu noted that his
Liberal Party supported the transformation of the
Five-plus-Two into a "Seven," to give the U.S.
more leverage, but had ceded the point in the
interests of Alliance unity. He also noted that
the only solution to the Transnistrian conflict
was to transform Moldova into a democratic and
prosperous state so that those living on the left
bank would be attracted back. Making a heavy-
handed joke, Ghimpu declared that the other
solution would be for Moldova to integrate into
NATO, forcing the Russians to withdraw--"but only
if we have your OK and the Liberal Party has a
majority in Parliament."

Presidential Elections and Constitutional Reform
-------------- ---


5. (C) Ghimpu noted that he understood the refusal
of the Party of Communists (PCRM) to vote for a
presidential candidate. "We didn't vote in June,
so why should they?" Answering his own question,
Ghimpu stated that matters were more urgent now.
Declaring that he was unsure if any PCRM members
would break away and provide the eight MP votes
necessary to elect a President, he said that the
government could put a new constitution forward
for a popular referendum. The new constitution,
which would need a simple-majority vote to pass,
would provide for a simple-majority vote of MPs to
elect a President, instead of the present three-
fifths majority. He suggested a spring or summer
2010 date for the constitutional referendum.


6. (C) Ghimpu defended the proposed referendum by
pointing out that the present impasse could occur

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again, and that the problem therefore needed to be
resolved. He stated that the setting up of the
referendum depended on Alliance unity--and that,
if some members disagreed, their disagreement
would reveal that their motives for joining the
Alliance had been dishonest.

CHAUDHRY