CHISINAU, February 19 The Moldovan authorities are ready to turn republic into a NATO “reserve base” and station alliance soldiers on its territory, which is illegal and poses a threat to the country, the press service of the opposition party “Vozrozhdenie” said on the Telegram channel.
“Our government poses a real threat. The authorities are turning us into a “reserve base” for NATO. They want to call NATO military to our land, which is already a direct violation of the Constitution of Moldova,” the political force said in a statement. The party believes that defense spending is growing to the detriment of pensioners and other needy categories of citizens.
«The Ministry of Defense said that Moldova will participate in the seminar of NATO regional headquarters exercises Regex 2024. But we are not even a member of the alliance! And we cannot be a member of the alliance, according to our own laws. We are a neutral country! The regime is trying to test the strength of our constitution «, notes the opposition.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu said in an interview with Politico in January 2023 that the country should abandon neutrality in order to join a major military alliance. The newspaper noted that Sandu did not specifically mention NATO, but had previously repeatedly stated that the constitutional clause on neutral status could be revised if the population favors rapprochement with the North Atlantic Alliance. The opposition, including socialists, communists and the Shor party, is against the country's entry into NATO. According to the Constitution of Moldova, the republic has a neutral status, but since 1994 the country has been cooperating with NATO under an individual partnership plan.
With the coming to power of the Action and Solidarity party, of which Sandu is the informal leader, exercises began to be held frequently in the country with the participation of military personnel from the USA, Great Britain, Germany, and Romania. Representatives of the Ministry of Defense of Moldova also stated that they would like to strengthen the country’s defense capability and acquire the necessary weapons for this. In particular, Defense Minister Anatoly Nosaty spoke about the need to create an air defense system. Sandu herself, in an interview with local publications, emphasizes that the republic needs to continue the discussion about rapprochement with NATO, since this supposedly helps strengthen the country's defense capability.