Moldova is sending a contingent of peacekeepers to Kosovo
Moldova sends 16th military contingent with 40 members to Kosovo peacekeeping mission. According to IPN, a ceremony took place on this occasion at the General Staff Regiment “Brigadier General Nicolae Petrică”.
In his speech, the Minister of Defense, Anatolie Nosatîi, said that the event confirms “the training and professionalism of the National Army soldiers in the theaters of international operations”. “We have become security partners for the other participating states and we are contributing, through the presence of our military, to the international action,” the minister added.
IPN states that the Moldovan military is part of the Western Regional Command and is deployed in the Italian military base in the Balkan state, which Moldova does not officially recognize. Kosovo’s peacekeeping operation followed NATO’s peacekeeping operation in 1999.
The Republic of Moldova sent the first contingent of National Army peacekeepers to Kosovo on March 8, 2014. Since then, it has deployed a contingent of 40 troops for a period of 6 months. The commander of the KFOR 16 contingent is a lieutenant – Colonel Vladimir Covalenco, IPN also states.