Romanian Defense Ministry on Military Cooperation with Moldova: Its Elements Are in Place

Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar said that there is close military cooperation between Romania and Moldova, but the Romanian government respects the neighboring country’s neutrality. “The moment we talk about Moldova, we talk about Romania’s soul partner, so the relations between us are relations that, on the one hand, are internationally known and, on the other hand, they have been formed naturally. Last winter, Moldova had problems with energy supply. The fact that the Romanian government was so well and actively involved in solving this crisis, we can also relate it to Moldova’s European aspirations, to its status of a candidate country, and you probably know that Romania is the country that does the most to promote Moldova,” the neighboring country’s defense minister said. Asked what Romania does for Moldova in the military field, Tilvar said: “I want to tell you that Moldova has the status of a neutral country from the military point of view, Romania respects the international law and this status. This does not mean that from a bilateral point of view we did not have elements of such cooperation - the non-lethal equipment that we offered to Moldova. I was there myself, and my relationship with the Moldovan Minister of Defense is natural, we meet very often. Then we have elements of joint trainings. We have elements of support, because Moldova is a state at the forefront of Russia’s hybrid actions, which is dissatisfied with Moldova’s European path”.