Defense Minister of Moldova: Russia violates airspace of country - INTERVIEW

Minister of Defence of the Republic of Moldova, Anatolie Nosatîi, gave an interview to Report's Eastern Europe Bureau.

Report presents that interview.

- Against the backdrop of the war in neighboring Ukraine, Moldova is also under threat. What measures do you take against this threat?

- The situation is related regarding the situation in Moldova and regarding the possible threats and how the Republic of Moldova is preparing to deal with this. I’ll start describing the situation that currently, we are facing. There is no direct threat regarding the military aggression against the Republic of Moldova right now. All this is done due to the best success of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the battlefield. We are grateful to the Ukrainian people and Armed Forces for sacrificing the heroes by defending the country. By defending Ukraine, they are defending Moldova, they are defending Europe. However, there are elements that I am interested in destabilization of the situation in the Republic of Moldova. The Russian Federation use all elements of hybrid warfare in order to destabilize the situation. Specifically, they are trying to use cyberattack, disinformation, manipulation, interference in internal problems, creation of the tension in society. I’m not going to speak about our effects like the economic and energetical crisis they use against us, especially in the winter. The Republic of Moldova, the Ministry of Defense, is working hard in order to enhance operational capability. We’re conducting regular training of the Armed Forces, we are conducting regular training of the reserve units, and we are in the process of the modernization and transformation of the national army.

- Under what conditions do you renew your army? What changes have happened in the last year?

- I mentioned the process of the transformation and modernization we are currently carrying out. The process includes the change of the old Soviet equipment with a new type of equipment that is interoperable with NATO standards. We started and will continue to do this and I would like to mention that this process requires a lot of resources. Additionally, it requires the training of the personnel, which is going to use within a daily activity. This process is going to take years and the deal will be able to do it.

- We hear that Moldova suffered from the Russian airstrikes against Ukraine...

- Unfortunately, there are several cases of violation of the Moldovan airspace. This once again highlights how vulnerable is the Republic of Moldova. The RF is trying to use what is our reaction, and what we will do in different scenarios. Those rockets were targeting the Ukrainian territory, crossing the territory of the Republic of Moldova. Some of the elements of the missiles fell down on our territory after they were intercepted. I’d like to mention that we speak about a new type of ammunition – smart munition. It seems like the operators did the programming of the flight on purpose to go to the Republic of Moldova violating our sovereignty states.

- If there is an attack, how much support is expected from the West to Moldova?

- I think that this hypothetic scenario is not real anymore. Ukrainian Armed Forces will not allow Russia to advance in the direction of Mykolaiv, Odesa, or to conduct the naval operation in the vicinity of Odesa. I don’t think this is real anymore. But anyway, the Republic of Moldovan Armed Forces are ready to defend the national territory. If the situation will change, the Armed Forces, our institution, citizens of the Republic of Moldova, will defend the country with all available means. As it was stated by our partners that we’ll be supported in case of the worst scenario with all necessary means. But this does not mean that we should wait. We are training, we are implementing our modernization and transformation plans, and trying to get ready to deal with any type of scenario.