right Radio Free Europe MoldovaChollet said at a meeting with reporters on Tuesday evening that the United States had no “indication” that Moldova was facing a military threat from Russia.

Asked by Free Europe if he sees a vulnerability in the neutrality status of the Republic of Moldova, the US diplomat said that the United States is helping the Moldovan army “grow” and strengthen its “capacity to defend territorial integrity” through a partnership that respects . neutrality status of the country.

“It is a partnership that we hope to deepen in the coming months, but we respect the constitutional status of neutrality,” Chollet said. He said he was accompanied to a high-ranking US Defense Department official in Chisinau, and others were to come “in the coming weeks.”

“We are working to make the Moldovan army more capable, more efficient and more modern, so that we can defend your sovereignty and territory and cooperate with us in other parts of the world,” the US official said. security ”in Kosovo as part of a NATO-led peacekeeping force.

Derek Chollet is a Western official who has been speaking in Chisinau in recent weeks about support for strengthening the Moldovan army in the context of the war in Ukraine.

On a visit on 4 May, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, a declaration that the European Union will provide military equipment to the armed forces of the Republic of Moldova. Moldovan authorities they explained that they were not “lethal weapons.”

In a meeting with reporters, the State Department adviser said that the United States is “closely” monitoring the situation in the Transnistrian region and the war in Ukraine, and “at present” they have no reason to believe “that Moldova is threatened.”

Asked by Radio Free Europe Moldova whether Romania, a member of NATO and the EU, can offer the Republic of Moldova a security arrangement similar to the one signed by the United Kingdom with Sweden and Finland, hitherto neutral countries, which have asked to join NATO. said he did not want to comment on “hypothetical situations”.

A long time ago, the United Kingdom signed official agreements with Finland and Sweden providing security guarantees “in the event of a disaster or attack in any country” until the actual accession to NATO, which could take several months.

In addition to increasing the army’s defense capabilities, the United States is discussing “reaction plans” with the Chisinau authorities so that, as the war in Ukraine continues, Moldova will be prepared for “what can be bad.” said the State Department official in Chisinau.

A major concern of the United States is to help Moldova cope with the refugee crisis, Dereck Chollet added. He said that while the United States has provided $ 1.5 billion in aid to Moldova over the past 30 years, aid in the past 80 days since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has risen to $ 130 million. dollars, which is almost 10% of the total.

The State Department adviser met with Chisinau authorities, including Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița, and visited a refugee center.

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have passed through the Republic of Moldova and 90,000 Ukrainians “are hosted by my citizens with a big heart. Half the children, which means 10% of the children being cared for in my country “, said on Wednesday, in the European Parliament, the President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, who added that the country should do everything possible to help the refugees.

From the Republic of Moldova, Chollet went to Georgia on Wednesday for talks on “advancing the aspirations of the Georgian people for a democratic, peaceful, prosperous and Euro-Atlantic future”, and will end his European tour in London, according to him. a press release of the State Department.