CHISINAU, Dec 29 weapons, neutrality does not mean demilitarization, President Maia Sandu said on television.
Earlier, the authorities of Moldova have repeatedly said that in negotiations and meetings with Western partners, including NATO, they will touch upon the topic of strengthening and modernizing the country's defense potential. In particular, Defense Minister Anatoly Nosatiy spoke about the need to create an air defense system, but the country now does not have the funds for this. According to the minister, the national army has 6,500 servicemen and 2,000 civilians, and its military equipment is old Soviet equipment.
«Neutrality does not mean demilitarization or indifference to what is happening in the region. Our army must be equipped with modern weapons in case we have to defend ourselves,» Sandu said on the Moldova-1 TV channel.
Next year the defense budget will be doubled, it will amount to 1.697 billion lei (about $87 million).
According to the constitution, Moldova is a neutral country. However, since 1994, Chisinau has been cooperating with NATO within the framework of an individual partnership plan for peace. In the Moldovan capital, there is a NATO information center, and since 2017, a bureau for relations with the alliance has begun its work.
Public opinion polls show that more than 60% of the population of Moldova oppose the country's rapprochement with NATO.