Moldovan protesters’ actions ‘beyond understanding’ – Medvedev

Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev has said anti-government protests that followed the parliamentary election in Moldova were illegal and “shocking.”

In his interview with Russia’s NTV channel, the Russian president said, “Sometimes people can be unhappy with the results of elections. I can also understand an opposition demanding a government to take certain measures, or even to revise the results of elections, but this should happen within light of the law.”

“What we saw in Moldova is an example of unconstitutional actions,” he added. “The pictures from Chisinau were really shocking when protesters were trying to plant a flag of a foreign state on some state institutions, which is beyond any understanding, whatever the reasons. Do these people want to live in a different state or do they strive to lose national sovereignty? Then it’s something different.”

April 5 parliamentary election results sparked violent protests in the capital Chisinau and attacks on the Moldovan Parliament and Administration buildings. As many as 90 people were injured and over 200 were arrested.

Opposition parties claimed the results were rigged and demanded a recount. According to preliminary results, the Communist party chaired by President Vladimir Voronin is still the winner with about 50 % of the vote. The final results, however, will be announced on April 21.

“As a political leader who can’t be indifferent to such processes,” Medvedev continued, “I cannot accept the form it was progressing in. The Moldovan leadership assessed it the same way. I’ve spoken about this with my colleague President Voronin several times. And I think European institutions have also assessed the events unambiguously.”

“Such kinds of civil activities should be within the law, not in the frame of so-called coloured revolutions, which haven’t created anything in the post-Soviet space but poverty and human rights problems,” the Russian president said.