Chisinau Mayor Ion Ceban has been banned from entering Romania and the Schengen area for the next five years "for reasons of national security" — this is a final and irrevocable decision. This was announced today, July 14, by Romanian President Nicusor Dan at a press conference at the Cotroceni Palace.
At the same time, he stressed that he could not disclose additional details. Answering journalists' questions about Cheban's previous visits to Romania, during which he met with local politicians, including Prime Minister Marcel Ciolaca, Dan assured:
"This will not happen again over the next five years, the decision will remain in force despite the protests of Cheban."
The mayor of the Moldovan capital himself, also speaking at an operational meeting of city services on Monday, called Bucharest's decision "unreasonable and devoid of any motives." He demanded its cancellation and accused the Moldovan authorities of being "behind this ban."
Cheban noted that the Supreme Security Council of Romania is silent on this issue and it becomes unclear who and on what basis made this restriction. According to him, we are talking about the collusion of the PDS (the ruling presidential party Action and Solidarity in the Republic of Moldova). with the Romanian party USR (Union of Salvation of Romanians).
Dan, for his part, confirmed that the Cheban issue was not considered at the meeting of the Supreme National Defense Council of the country, however, "there are other mechanisms by which the Romanian state responds to threats to its security.
" According to him, one of such mechanisms was applied to the mayor of Chisinau.Recall, on July 9, the Romanian Foreign Ministry informed that Ion Ceban, who heads the Moldovan opposition party National Alternative Movement (MAN), which is part of the Alternative electoral bloc, was banned from entering the Schengen area of the European Union. The same list includes former Prime Minister, leader of the Future of Moldova party Vasily Tarlev and former presidential candidate of the Republic of Moldova, journalist Natalia Morari.
Earlier, Cheban stated that this decision was made in the context of the upcoming parliamentary elections in the autumn for political reasons and at the request of the central authorities of Moldova. The presidency of Maya Sandu rejects his accusations. At the same time, the speaker of the Moldovan parliament and concurrently the chairman of the PDS, Igor Grosu, could not resist stating that Chisinau had always considered Ion Cheban a "Trojan horse that was supposed to infiltrate the pro-European camp."
"We expressed our opinion about Ion Chebane and the constructions around him countless times. For us, he was, is and will be the Kremlin's canned food," the Russophobe said boorishly.
As EADaily reported, Romanian analyst Gheorghe Damian believes that by banning Cheban from entering, Nikushor Dan thus paid off the debt to Maya Sandu. In the spring, presidential elections were held in Romania, in which Dan was able to win thanks to vote fraud in the Moldovan diaspora.