Russia has alleged that the West is exerting pressure on Moldova to be part of Romania as a ploy to curtail Russia's influence in the region. Though Moldova has had a neutral status, the NATO bloc is trying to change it by forcing Moldova to be part of Romania, Russian Foreign Ministry's
representative Maria Zakharova said, according to IANS.
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Earlier, the ex-president of Moldova, Igor Dodon, warned that the authorities of the republic were preparing its military and political accession to Romania. This will be done contrary to the opinion of citizens, the politician believes. According to experts, such a scenario is indeed being considered in Chisinau, RT reported.
The reason for the absorption of Moldova by Romania could be the "Russian threat", as well as the hopeless situation in the Moldovan economy. Such a merger of countries is capable of launching dangerous processes in the region, analysts believe, RT reported.
Pushing for Closer Cooperation
With the start of the Russian special military operation (SVO), Western countries are increasingly pushing Chisinau towards closer cooperation with NATO. This was stated by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, speaking at a briefing. This activity implies the transfer of weapons to the Moldovan side, she explained.
"Strengthening one's own security is a sovereign right and an internal affair of any state, but it is unlikely that pumping Moldova with NATO weapons will meet this task, as well as correspond to the country's neutrality," Zakharova stressed, recalling that neutrality is fixed in the Moldovan constitution.
Maria Zakharova also commented on the border bill approved by the government of Moldova, according to which foreigners can be involved in protecting the borders of the republic. In addition, the document provides for the creation of legal conditions for the work in the country of mission of the EU border and coast guard agency FRONTEX (European Union Agency for the Security of External Borders) to manage the flow of Ukrainian refugees.
"I would like to hope that everything will be limited to this, we will closely monitor the activities of this structure in Moldova," Zakharova said, RT reported.
