On May 21, a rally took place in Chișinău, which is considered historic. President Maia Sandu wants to establish herself as the "mother of the nation" and is doing so quite effectively.

She managed to gather even political opponents at her rally.

This is important since the prospects for the PAS party in the upcoming parliamentary elections are uncertain.

Therefore, one of her new allies seems to have finally made a decision during the "mega-rally" on May 21. That ally is Ion Ceban, formerly a member of a pro-Russian party, who publicly "changed his orientation" and created the movement of "strong manager" in Moldova. He is now supported by the EU and, primarily, the United States.

You can read more about it in the article by Sergiy Sydorenko, the editor of EuroPravda, titled "Anti-Russian Moldova: How Sandu is pushing the country towards EU and seeking allies in the new parliament." (Ukr)

The gathering on May 21 was not spontaneous. Moldova had been preparing for it for over a month. Sandu personally came up with the idea and immediately announced that the rally would be called the National Assembly "European Moldova" – a clear analogy to the Great National Assemblies in the country in 1989 and 1991.

The rally's idea was similar – like in 1989, it aimed to demonstrate the will of the Moldovan people and their desire to join the EU. The recipients of this "message" are obviously Moldovans who have not yet decided on their geopolitical aspirations, as well as foreign politicians who were supposed to receive the signal: "Moldova is Europe."

Can the result be considered successful in this sense? It's a difficult question. There were significantly fewer Moldovans supporting European integration than those who supported independence in the past.

But Sandu won in a completely different way.

The "European National Assembly" was meant to give an answer to who is willing to become Sandu's partner in the potential future parliament. And they got it. After hesitations and debates about supporting the May 21 rally, the Mayor of Chișinău, Ion Ceban, publicly announced that he would also bring his party members to the square.

Ceban currently lacks a political team but he has an image as a strong manager and high authority in the capital. He also has a newly established party called MAN – National Alternative Movement. The party does not have a fixed ideology, and that's why they believe this "alternative" could attract the votes of those disappointed with Sandu and Dodon.

However, he has a political past with a pro-Russian flavour – Ceban was a member of the Communist Party for a long time and, later, Dodon's party, although he didn't commit himself to overtly supporting Putin.

Despite this history, Ceban has gained an image of being favoured by the United States.

Furthermore, the National Assembly on May 21 confirmed that while Sandu's team is mentally preparing for a possible loss in parliament, the president herself has a perfect chance of being reelected next year.

Most likely, she won't have any competitors there because on May 21, they all "merged" and agreed to participate in her event.

Also, President Sandu's political position has been changing. She herself acknowledged this in an interview given in Russian last weekend, trying to convince the residents of Chișinău to attend the rally on May 21. The president confirmed that she has openly adopted an anti-Russian orientation.

"The war has changed me," she confessed.

"For me, the Russian Federation is a war. It is a state that does not value its people where life is worth nothing," she explained.

And shortly after, she added: "Moldova will arrest Putin if he comes to the country."

This is a point of no return in the relationship.