Press review: Moldova holds parliamentary vote while NATO creates new threats to Russia
Top stories from the Russian press on Monday, September 29th
MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. Iran is considering leaving the NPT after UNSC sanctions on it were restored, while Moldova held a parliamentary election on Sunday. Meanwhile, NATO has posed new threats to Russia in the Black Sea region. These stories topped Monday's newspaper headlines in Russia.
Izvestia: Iran considers quitting NPT as West restores sanctions on Islamic Republic
The renewal of UNSC sanctions on Iran may radicalize the country’s foreign policy and abandon its course toward settling differences with the West through dialogue. Tehran has already recalled its envoys from Britain, France and Germany, the three initiators of the snapback mechanism. However, experts doubt the Islamic Republic will pull out of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). This would undermine the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program and give its opponents, including Israel, grounds to step up pressure. And yet there is a chance toward a deal as the United States is trading sanctions in exchange for Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, while Russia and China oppose the reimposition of tough restrictions.
US to continue expecting Iran nuclear program deal — Department of State
The sanctions which prohibit Iran from uranium enrichment and processing, weapons supplies and the acquisition of technology for its space exploration and missile programs, as well as restrictions in the oil and banking sectors were reinstated on the night of September 27-28 after the European troika triggered the snapback.
On September 26, the UN Security Council rejected a joint resolution drafted by Moscow and Beijing to extend the Iran nuclear deal for another six months, as the two countries attempted to block the restoration of anti-Iranian sanctions.
Yury Mavashev, an Orientalist and lecturer at the Department of World Politics and World Economy at the RANEPA Institute of Management, views Tehran’s nuclear problem as just a pretext to curb Iranian activity, while the West’s real claims are much broader, he says. "Germany, France and Great Britain actually supported and expanded the US position on Iran. This position is aimed at putting Iran outside the brackets of regional and macroregional processes. As the West sees it, Tehran has been playing a too active role without permission from Western capitals," the expert concluded.
Media: Moldova conducts parliamentary election
Moldova’s opposition parties, including the Patriotic Bloc which backs the restoration of ties with Russia, overtook the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) founded by Moldovan President Maia Sandu, in Sunday’s parliamentary vote, the Central Election Commission said, with 100% of ballots in the country counted.
Moldovan president speaks of election interference, does not rule out annulment of results
Meanwhile, Sandu, formally a non-party candidate, reported attempts to interfere in and falsify the election as part of a voter fraud scheme in which she said 100 million euros had been poured in. She even said voting results could be annulled on suspicion of meddling.
Why Sandu can put forward an ultimatum of either her allies win or the Central Election Commission refuses to recognize the opposition’s victory lies in guarantees from the European Union that it will overlook any actions, including fraudulent ones, to favor her former PAS colleagues, head of the Ukraine division at the Institute of CIS Countries Ivan Skorikov told Vedomosti. According to him, for Brussels, the election in Moldova is just a way of countering Russia, and the political scenario behind it does not rule out a military scenario that would primarily affect Transnistria.
Sandu sees herself as a wartime president, and her actions enjoy full support from the EU, Vadim Trukhachev, an associate professor of international relations at the Russian State University for the Humanities, agrees. "Speaking of Moldova, it is Brussels which dictates how Sandu should act," he said.
If the results of the voting are rigged, protests may erupt in the former Soviet republic, Nicole Bodishteanu, an expert at HSE University, told Izvestia. "The West’s reaction will be mixed. While Moldova will certainly get full backing from Brussels, the United States may instead criticize the election process as not democratic enough," the expert believes.
As for the ruling PAS party, the election must essentially show if its pro-European course pursued by Sandu is viable enough. So far, it has caused a rapid decline in living standards in Moldova, with prices rising and salaries falling. Over the four years with the PAS in power, inflation in the country has hit 66%, the cost of energy has jumped six-fold after Chisinau deliberately refused to use Russian fuel to satisfy Brussels, and the national debt has grown to $7.8 billion.
Izvestia: NATO creates new threats to Russia in Black Sea
The North Atlantic Alliance is boosting its presence in Romania and Bulgaria. Sofia has agreed with Italy to build a NATO base, and it is also planning to acquire new weapons and construct routes for troop movements, Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova told Izvestia. Meanwhile, Bucharest will host a major exercise, Dacian Fall 2025, and purchase Hisar corvettes from Turkey, the Russian embassy in Romania announced. NATO is pursuing the aim of weakening Moscow’s influence in the region, hindering Russian trade there and opening a second front against Russia in Transnistria, analysts argue.
NATO is also seeking to gain control over the Black Sea and the airspace above it as Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey take part in the MCM Black Sea initiative and the annual NATO maneuvers in the Black Sea, including Sea Breeze and Sea Shield. Therefore, the situation in the Black Sea is under the bloc’s scrutiny.
The Black Sea region is of strategic importance to NATO, political analyst Denis Denisov said in a conversation with Izvestia. This is why the deployment of its infrastructure in the region looks completely logical. And the process will clearly continue until NATO engages in any substantive talks on the regional security framework with Russia.
The EU, too, has been expanding its posture in the region. In late May, the European Commission presented a new strategy for the Black Sea region that envisages "reinforcing Europe’s role as a reliable geopolitical actor," forging "closer cooperation with Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and fostering "cross-regional cooperation." This policy line is aimed at pushing Russia out of the region.
Russia has been strengthening its military posture in the region in response, building new military bases. In 2023, Russia and Abkhazia signed an agreement to establish a new permanent site of deployment for the Russian Navy in the Ochamchira district. And in the coming years, new seaborne robotic complexes, among other weapons, will enter service with the Black Sea Fleet, Nikolay Patrushev, a Russian presidential aide and chairman of Russia’s Maritime Board, announced.
"Russia will make appropriate efforts to protect the Black Sea region from aggressive plans of the West. These will include measures to reinforce and strengthen Russia’s defensive positions in the region and new infrastructure projects," Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of Moscow State Pedagogical University’s Institute of History and Politics, told Izvestia.
Kommersant: Russian coal suppliers may gain larger share of South Korean market
Delays in shipments from the key ports in Australia have allowed Russia and Indonesia to expand their share of the South Korean thermal coal market, and the trend is expected to persist, a report from NEFT Research shows. In August, Russia boosted thermal coal exports to the country by 54.6% to 3.76 million metric tons.
Russia became the top supplier of thermal coal to South Korea in July when Russian producers exported 2.7 million metric tons of solid fuel, marking the largest monthly volume since 2022.
"The trend toward rising Russian coal exports will continue, at least in the coming months, as the Australian option is losing on price. Moreover, sporadic shipping problems have been reported as well," Alexander Kotov, a consulting partner at NEFT Research, told Kommersant.
Nikanor Khalin, a senior analyst at Euler, says it is premature to discuss the durability of this trend. According to him, the sharp increase in thermal coal exports in July and August may have been driven by abnormally hot weather in the region which boosted demand for electricity and, consequently, fuel for thermal power plants, given the lack of capacity to ramp up imports from Australia quickly, the analyst explains. "However, Russian suppliers may seize the opportunity to offer favorable terms and retain partial presence in South Korea," Khalin added.
Kommersant: Investors increasing their gold holdings
In September, global investors poured $15.5 billion into gold ETFs, the second-largest inflow on record. Gold prices have been setting new all-time highs regularly of late, trading near $3,800 per troy ounce.
The latest data from Emerging Portfolio Fund Research (EPFR) showed growing demand from international investors for gold. According to an estimate from Kommersant based on the latest report from Bank of America, in the week through September 24, net investment in gold ETFs totaled $3.6 billion, a $1.6 billion jump from the previous week. Over four weeks, such funds attracted $15.5 billion in inflows compared to just $2.9 billion in August.
The surge in appetite for the precious metal was fueled by expectations of a new cycle of Fed rate cuts. In the week of September 15, the US central bank lowered the key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to the 4.00%-4.25% range. And the Fed penciled in two additional cuts in its latest median projection before year-end.
According to Ruslan Klyshko, director of the wealth management department at AF Capital, the heightened demand for precious metals is linked to ongoing geopolitical tensions and the structural underweight of this asset in investor portfolios.
Early last week, spot prices for gold hit a fresh all-time high, climbing above $3,791 per troy ounce, and on Friday the precious metal reached $3,775.6 per ounce, up 10.5% since early September. Analysts anticipate prices will continue to rise. Global Investment Strategist at JP Morgan Private Bank Weiheng Chen does not rule out the possibility of gold climbing to $4,150 per ounce by mid-next year, supported by lower Fed rates.
