Press Release
on the organization of the debate "Bad side and good side of Russian embargoes”. Debates series held by the news agency IPN in its conference room with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”

Held on 31 March 2025, Debate No. 328 brought together: Andrian Digolean, secretary of state of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry; economic expert of IDIS "Viitorul" Vyacheslav Ioniță, former member of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova and Igor Boțan, IPN project’s standing expert.

The permanent expert of IPN’s project Igor Boţan said that embargo means prohibition by a state of the export or import of goods into or from a country as a sanction for violating rules or principles of international law or as a means of political pressure. At the same time, the trade war is an economic conflict between two or more countries in which adversaries try to harm each other's economies through bans and restrictions on foreign trade and other protectionist measures. Simply put, a trade war is an escalation of normal commercial disagreements between countries, which results in an active economic confrontation.

"If we refer to hybrid warfare, it involves the combined use of conventional and unconventional instruments of force and subversive actions. A synchronized mix of these tools or means to take advantage of the adversary's weaknesses and achieve a synergistic effect. Therefore, the embargo is an element of the trade war, and the latter – an element of the hybrid war," explained Igor Boțan.

Andrian Digolean, secretary of state of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, said that as a result of the embargo 19 years ago, wineries were desperately trying to resume exports to the Russian Federation. There were some desperate efforts, but even then it was clear that the market needed to be diversified.

"As a result of this embargo, the sector suffered enormously. There were losses estimated at $300 million to $500 million. At that time, practically 80% of wine exports were oriented to the Russian Federation's market. So, it was a very serious blow," noted the functionary.

According to him, at that time practically 10% of the GDP was made up of wine products, and this seriously affected the producers. "Moreover, as a result of this embargo, probably around 25% of our wineries went bankrupt. If I were to give an appreciation, I would name the covered path a period of disaster and catastrophe in the wine sector created by the embargoes of 2006-2013 towards the organization of the World Congress of Vine and Wine in the Republic of Moldova, in Chisinau in 2025. In these 19 years, many lessons have been learned", said Andrian Digolean.

He also said that after the first embargo, the first structural reforms of the wine sector were outlined by combining the efforts of public authorities, producers, together with foreign partners. In 2012, it was decided to create the National Office of Vine and Wine, which began its activity in 2014.

"It would be wrong to talk about positive effects because producers lost millions, having their money blocked in the Russian Federation. But lessons were learned because, as a result of this embargo, a number of shortcomings were disclosed. It was found that the wine sector was dependent on a single market, with a focus on particular wines. The biggest problem was that we were more supply-oriented. We were proposing what we have, but it is right to emphasize the demand," stated Andrian Digolean.

Economic expert of IDIS "Viitorul" Vyacheslav Ioniță said that in 26 years of bilateral relations with the Russian Federation, the Republic of Moldova was subjected to two large embargoes. Also, there were two crises that did not seem to refer to the Republic of Moldova, but they hit it very hard, one of them being even stronger than the first embargo, including the great financial crisis witnessed in the Russian Federation in 1998.

"We counted eight more mini-embargoes that had an effect on us. As a result, Russia's share of Moldovan exports decreased 18 times. In 1997, Russia accounted for over 58%, while in 2024 Moldova's exports to the Russian Federation constituted 3.3%. And more than half of exports were fruit. We were most affected by the embargo of 2006. Then we lost the Russian market, and we recovered only in 2011," explained the economist.

"But the first and biggest blow received by the Republic of Moldova since Independence was actually the crisis witnessed by Russia in 1998. And even if it seemed that it had nothing to do with us, this crisis hit the Moldovan currency market, had as an effect the depreciation of the currency, impoverishing of the population and contributed to the great migration of the population in the 2000s, which actually started after the 1998 crisis!, said Vyacheslav Ioniță.

"Following the Russian Federation’s embargo on wines, we have not yet recovered, at least in exports. Yes, we increased the quality. Yes, a lot changed in our country. We no longer focus on what we can supply, but on what is demanded on the market. Qualitatively, we changed a lot, but quantitatively we have not yet managed to reach at least half of what it was until then," said Vyacheslav Ioniță.

According to the expert, this year, "we broke the record for the second time. When the embargo was first imposed, we hit an all-time high – US$208 million of wines exported to the Russian Federation. As a result of the embargo, exports collapsed to US$2 million – a hundredfold collapse. After that we recovered, and this year, again for the second time we collapsed to US$2 million. So, we hit the lower level twice – once immediately after the embargo, and the second time now, in an unfavorable context generated by the Russian-Ukrainian war," said the economist.

In his opinion, out of the total of about 10 embargoes imposed so far, "only two micro-embargoes can be related to the attitude of the Republic of Moldova towards the war in Ukraine. As for the rest, you don't have to be a great specialist to realize that they are strictly related to the relations of the Republic of Moldova with the European Union."

The public debate entitled "Bad side and good side of Russian embargoes" was held as part of the series of debates "Developing political culture through public debates". IPN Agency carries out this project with support from the German Hanns Seidel Foundation.

The Agency published 4 news stories on the debate (see the English version of www.ipn.md): on 31.03.25, „Bad side and good side of Russian embargoes. IPN debate”- https://www.ipn.md/en/bad-side-and-good-side-of-russian-embargoes-ipn-debate-8004_1113361.html; “Andrian Digolean: Russian embargo of 2006 led to decrease in exports and bankruptcy of companies” - https://www.ipn.md/en/andrian-digolean-russian-embargo-of-2006-led-to-decrease-in-8004_1113364.html; „Vyacheslav Ioniță: Through 2006 embargo, Russia wanted to hit political authorities in Chisinau”- https://www.ipn.md/en/vyacheslav-ionita-through-2006-embargo-russia-wanted-to-hit-political-8004_1113365.html; „Igor Boțan: Russian embargo on Moldovan wines in 2006 was political in character”- https://www.ipn.md/en/igor-botan-russian-embargo-on-moldovan-wines-in-2006-was-8004_1113366.html.  

Valeriu Vasilică,  
debate moderator   




Denis Conop,
director of IPN