Online event in English
Friday, Nov. 24, 2023
15:00pm – 16:30pm CET
Zoom Webinar
Guests must register via email: tatiana.cojocari@drd.unibuc.ro in order to receive the webinar info.
Speaker: Tatiana Cojocari, Expert in sociology and combating misinformation, WatchDog.MD and Think Visegrad Fellow
Moderator: Kamil Całus, Senior Fellow, Department for Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova, Center for Eastern Studies (OSW)
This event is part of the Think Visegrad Fellowship program and it is sponsored by Think Visegrad—V4 Think Tank Platform.
Since 2014 when the Association Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Moldova was signed, a shift of Transnistria business from the Russian and CSI markets to the EU one is noticed. The Association Agreement impacted the preferences of Transnistria migrants from Russia to countries such as Italy, Germany, Great Britain, and Poland by offering a visa free status to Transnistria inhabitants with the Republic of Moldova’s passports. International factors such as Russian annexation of Crimea and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine has continued this trend contributing to the de-isolation of the unrecognized Transnistria region.
Nevertheless, Transnistria is known as a being a “Russian client” and part of the Russian “civilizational space”. Its population has been exposed for decades to the Russian policy of “compatriots”. Based on these arguments, the discussion will explore the EU engagement without recognition policy’s impact on the foreign policy of the region and its population.
Through close examination of local media outlets, available migration data and in-site research, the author seeks to understand how and if the sense of belonging to the Russian “civilizational space” is shaped when interacting with European values and culture.
Short bio of the speaker
Tatiana Cojocari is a 2023 Think Visegrad Fellow at the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), affiliated Expert at WatchDog.MD Community Think Tank in the Republic of Moldova and researcher at the Romanian Academy’s Institute of Political Science and International Relations. Previously, she was Postdoctoral Researcher at the Romanian Centre for Russian Studies researching the Transnistria topic; and Fulbright scholar at Georgetown University working on a project on the Russian Orthodox Church’s role in foreign policy with a focus on Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. Her main research interests are political sociology, Russian “soft” foreign policy on the Eastern European countries, and conflict studies.