Global Courant 2023-05-18 19:05:51
Moldovan President Maia Sandu said her country’s European Union membership is the best way to defend against potential Russian aggression.
On June 1, Moldova will host the first summit of the 44 states of the European Political Community – an initiative launched last year by French President Emmanuel Macron that aims to increase cooperation between the EU and non-member states, including also aspiring states from the Western Balkans and the Caucasus region.
Moldova, along with neighboring Ukraine, last year received EU candidate country status, months after Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, has taken in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war.
Russia continues to have more than 1,000 troops stationed in Transnistria, a strip of land between Moldova and Ukraine, ostensibly for peacekeeping operations and to guard a large cache of Soviet-era munitions.
“Of course, it cannot be compared to what is happening in Ukraine, but we see risks and we believe that we can only save our democracy by being part of the EU,” Sandu told the AFP news agency.
“We believe that Russia will continue to be a major source of instability for the next few years and we need to protect ourselves,” she added.
Like Ukraine, Moldova was part of the former Soviet Union until 1991, when it declared independence.
In 1992, Moldova fought a brief war with the Russian-backed Transnistrian region, which seceded. Moldova fears that this region wants to join neighboring Romania.
Moldova shares the same history and language with Romania, of which it was a part until World War II.
Sandu, a former World Bank official who was educated in the United States, was elected president in November 2020, replacing Igor Dodon, who enjoyed the support of Moscow./ Radio Free Europe
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