Moldova Drafts Five-Year Defence Strengthening Programme Worth More Than 10 Billion Lei

The Moldovan government plans to significantly strengthen the country’s defence sector over the next five years by procuring weapons and military equipment compatible with those used by the armed forces of its partner countries. On 5 August, the Cabinet is expected to approve the implementation programme for the National Defence Strategy, which was adopted in 2024 for a ten-year period, Europa Liberă reports. Officials estimate that implementing the programme will cost nearly 10.6 billion lei. More than 4.2 billion lei is expected to come from the state budget, while around 3.7 billion lei will be provided through foreign assistance. Funding sources have yet to be identified for the remaining 2.7 billion lei. The programme aims to strengthen the country’s defence capabilities and gradually integrate Moldova into the European Union’s security and defence architecture. One of its objectives is to increase government defence spending to 1% of GDP by 2030, up by 0.25-0.35 percentage points from the level recorded in recent years. Former Defence Minister and Reserve General Vitalie Marinuta told Europa Liberă that even with the planned increase, Moldova’s defence spending would remain insufficient, noting that some countries in the region allocate up to 5% of GDP to defence. In his view, given the current situation, defence spending should reach 2-2.5% of GDP over the next five years. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moldova has gradually increased its defence budget. Defence spending rose to 1.65 billion lei in 2023, 1.96 billion lei in 2024, and nearly 1.9 billion lei in 2025, equivalent to around 0.75% of GDP. Prior to that, annual defence spending had remained below one billion lei, amounting to 900 million lei in both 2021 and 2022, 750 million lei in 2020 and 730 million lei in 2019. According to the programme, by 2027 the Moldovan armed forces are to be equipped with weapons and military equipment compatible with those used by the armed forces of partner countries. An air defence system is also scheduled to enter service as early as 2026.