DISINFO: President Maia Sandu announced that Moldova can joining the EU without Transnistria
SUMMARY
And today it became known that Moldova itself will agree to give the region [Transnistria] up [...]. This is the price of the desire to urgently [...] join the EU. Moldovan President Maia Sandu announced the possibility of the country joining the European Union without Transnistria.
RESPONSE
This claim is in line with pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the Transnistria region of the Republic of Moldova. It also targeting Moldova’s EU accession process. This narrative is being spread in reaction to Moldova's recently obtained EU candidate status and the upcoming referendum on EU accession.
In a recent interview, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said (1.16.27 – 1.17.39): "We want to integrate into the EU reunited, with the Transnistrian conflict resolved, but if this cannot be done, then we are ready to integrate in two steps. And on the other hand, you also heard the answers of EU officials, who say that this frozen conflict is not a problem for the European integration of the Republic of Moldova". In another interview, a year earlier, Maia Sandu (min. 16.40 – 17.25) made a similar statement: "It is not about abandoning Transnistria, it will be a two-step integration process, in stages".
See here and here cases on Moldova’s EU accession and here a case claiming that Maia Sandu called for a genocide in the name of democracy in Tiraspol.