Moldova’s foreign minister says there are “internal forces” in the country seeking to “destabilize the region” in the shadow of Russia’s war on Ukraine but that Chisinau is working to ensure that such efforts don’t spread the conflict.
Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu acknowledged that the situation in Moldova was “fragile, but it is nevertheless calm.”
He also said his country’s rightful place is in the European Union and he hopes Moldova’s accelerated EU bid gets quick acceptance from the bloc “in the next few weeks and months.”
“We do not face an acute military crisis today,” Popescu told reporters on the sidelines of a three-day G7 foreign ministers’ meeting on Germany’s Baltic coast focused largely on the war and its ripple effects on food and energy supplies.
Moldova and its tiny breakaway region of Transdniester share a roughly 1,200-kilometer border with Ukraine and fears of a spillover have intensified since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in late February.
The European Union on May 4 pledged to boost military aid to Moldova, a poor nonmember where around 1,500 Russian troops still guard a Soviet-era military depot over Chisinau’s objections.
The pro-Russian leadership in Transdniester has pointed fingers across the border at Ukraine for some of a string of explosions and other minor incidents in recent months.
On May 13, it said two attacks with Molotov cocktails targeted a fuel depot and conscription center in the regional capital, Tiraspol. The resulting fires were quickly extinguished, it said.