The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the “reckless bombardment of Moldova with Western weapons” / “Do not repeat the sad experience of Kiev”
The intensification of cooperation between Moldova and NATO undermines the security of the country, of the declaration for RIA Novosti Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin.
The diplomat asked Chisinau “not to repeat the sad experience of Kiev” in this house, reports the Russian press administration.
“The intensification of cooperation between Chisinau and NATO countries in the military and military-technical sphere is a factor that undermines to a greater degree the security of Moldova itself. As the experience of the past shows, recklessly pumping a country with Western weapons or deploying NATO contingents from its territory does not add to its security and sovereignty at all, but, on the contrary, brings it closer to catastrophe,” said the Russian official.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova, Niescu, declared that the country is in a very difficult security situation, so the defense potential must be strengthened. Chisinau is counting on the activation of military cooperation with Germany, Romania and France, reports RIA Novosti.
Record budget for defense in the Republic of Moldova in 2023
The government in Chisinau has set a record budget for defense in 2023 in the context of the war launched by Russia in neighboring Ukraine, a Deutsche Welle analysis shows.
The additional allocated money will be invested in the defense of the country’s airspace. “War remains the main threat facing Moldova – a conventional war, with weapons, missiles and ammunition that fly over and, unfortunately, sometimes fall on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. And this is beyond our control”, claims the head of the Intelligence and Security Service (SIS) of the Republic of Moldova, Alexandru Musteata. “We see the risks of this war, materialized”, said the head of the SIS.
The Chisinau Parliament approved in the first reading the budget law for the year 2023 with tangible additional allocations for the main state institutions. The largest budget increase was achieved by the Ministry of Defense. The army budget has been increased by 68% compared to 2022 and will constitute 1,697.1 million Moldovans, which is 0.55% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. In any case, it is insufficient, claims the Minister of Defense, Anatolie Nosatîi. According to him, to ensure a change in the field of national defense, financial allocations equivalent to 2% of GDP are needed. “The normal military budget should be 1-2 percent of GDP, for 5-7 years in a row, so that we can make visible changes. If we think that an addition of 03% of GDP to the previous allocations of 0.3% can change things, we are wrong”, said the Moldovan Minister of Defense.
He argues that neutrality costs: “As long as we are neutral, we must take care and invest in our security.” “The extra money allocated in 2023 will be invested in the defense of the airspace of the Republic of Moldova. But if we allocate the money for an anti-aircraft system today, we will receive it in a year and a half at the earliest”, explained Minister Nosatîi at the European Integration Forum held in Chisinau. The head of Defense also warned that internal security threats target the separatist regime in Tiraspol, the presence of Russian troops in Transnistria, as well as the huge weapons depot in Cobasna (also in the Transnistrian region). He also spoke about the risk of triggering an internal conflict, by forces guided from outside, interested in destabilizing the country. We are talking about several politicians who took over in Moldova in recent years and who fled the country after the change of government, connected to certain political groups-Russian mafias and financially fuel some absurd protests organized in Chisinau against the pro-government European.
In Moldova, Russian spies are everywhere
For his part, the head of the Intelligence and Security Service of the Republic of Moldova, Alexandru Musteata, publicly admitted that Russia has activated all its mechanisms specific to the hybrid war and is applying them more and more aggressively in Moldova. “Fakes and manipulation are applied to the max. In parallel, what we call influencers have been activated – people from the socio-political sector who seek to influence public opinion through the use of fakes. And we see that all this is coordinated from one center, from Moscow. We are at the center of a hybrid war. Russia has a lot of influence money in Moldova. We, for the most part, know them and work to prevent and counter the risks they generate on our territory,” said the head of the SIS.