The status of neutrality of the Republic of Moldova was adopted to stimulate the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Transnistrian region, but this didn’t happen, German political scientist Anneli Ute Gabanyi stated in a public debate hosted by IPN News Agency. According to her, neutrality became a concept that is deep-rooted in the mentality of Moldova’s population, but the maintaining of the status of neutrality does not mean lack of investments in defense or of democratic reforms.
According to expert, the NATO Vilnius Summit, even if it didn’t offer Ukraine a membership action plan, it offered consistent military and financial support to the authorities in Kyiv. Ukraine also obtained an extremely important discussion platform – the NATO-Ukraine Council.
“A NATO-Ukraine Council was constituted, which raised the relations between NATO and Ukraine to the highest level. On this platform, discussions will be held from equal to equal. It is a favor done to Ukraine and Ukraine should continue reforming the internal affairs and doing democratic reforms. If NATO had stipulated that Ukraine would be welcomed into the Alliance after the war is over, this would have served as an impetus for Russia to continue the war on the territory of Ukraine for as long as it was possible so as to prevent Ukraine’s accession to NATO,” noted Anneli Ute Gabanyi.
In a joint statement, the NATO allies call on Russia to withdraw all its forces that are illegally stationed in the Transnistrian region. According to the political scientist, the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova, which was adopted in 1994, stipulated the neutrality status in order to stimulate the withdrawal of the Russian troops and munitions from the left side of the Nistru.
“So far, the support for the withdrawal of the troops from the Transnistrian region had been discussed only at OSCE level, the last time in Istanbul in 1999. Since then, no one really addressed this issue. I want to underline the importance of neutrality in the Republic of Moldova’s security concept. The status of neutrality pursued the goal of contributing to the removal of the military occupation of the Russian troops from the Transition region. This hope didn’t come true, but the neutrality concept became deep-rooted in the mentality of the politicians and civil society. I compare this thing with the situation in Austria or Switzerland, where the neutrality concept is a value by which the people abide,” explained Anneli Ute Gabanyi.
According to the German political scientist, the status of neutrality does not exclude the military support for Moldova and strengthening of the country’s defense capabilities. Neutrality should not hamper the development of the country and its European aspirations.
“The West’s and NATO’s interest in the Republic of Moldova has changed. In the 1990s, a high-ranking NATO representative explained that for NATO, the Republic of Moldova does not have any value and this thing was understood in Chisinau. Following the attack on Ukraine, the very great importance of the Republic of Moldova was ultimately realized in the West. If Ukraine manages to get rid of this influence of Russia, which wants to maintain its influence over all the former Soviet republics, Moldova will remain a piece of land that separates Ukraine from the West. The fact that Moldova was invited into the EU was also the result of the late fundamental change in the European Union as regards the political and geopolitical importance of the Republic of Moldova. Neutrality does not mean lack of positions, which means that Moldova should clearly orient itself to Western values of democracy and assistance for defense cannot be excluded. During the cold war, Austria, which pompously maintained its neutrality, had secret defense and resistance systems in the eventuality of Soviet occupation. So, we must struggle for Moldova to be equipped in the best way possible,” concluded Anneli Ute Gabanyi.
The debate entitled “NATO Summit: Impact on Ukraine and Moldova” was the 285th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
