Today, on the day of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Chisinau, the international press quotes the briefing with the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Jim O'Brien, dedicated to Antony Blinken’s visit to Eastern Europe, IPN reports.
New York Times and Reuters report that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to arrive in the Moldovan capital Chisinau on Wednesday, the first stop of a brief Europe tour during which he will aim to solidify the Western support for Moldova as a country affected by the war in Ukraine. Later in the week, Blinken will travel to Prague to attend an informal gathering of NATO foreign ministers, which will focus on advancing preparations ahead of a July leaders summit of the alliance in Washington.
The U.S. top diplomat’s trip comes as Ukraine is trying to fend off intensifying Russian attacks in the east and as President Vladimir Putin warns that allowing Kyiv use Western weapons to hit inside Russia would trigger a global conflict.
In Chisinau, Blinken will meet with President Maia Sandu and other senior officials at a time when U.S. officials say the country faces Russian “influence operations”. The United States will likely announce a “robust package” of support for Moldova’s energy independence, said O’Brien without elaborating. He added that Washington has not seen a direct military threat from Russia toward Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region.
The European press also focuses on the concentration of the United States’ attention on Eastern Europe. Euractiv said that Blinken’s trip comes a week after the European Union signed a security and defence pact with Moldova that is also aimed at helping the country defend against Russian threats, including in cyber security. The source quotes Moldovan foreign minister Mihai Popșoi, who called Blinken’s visit a „strong signal of political and financial support” to the country. “While some do everything to put us in difficulty, others come and help us and extend us this hand of friendly help to overcome these difficulties that others create for us, for which we are extremely grateful,” he said, likely alluding to Russia.
Noting that Blinken last visited the tiny country weeks after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, when some made gloomy predictions that Moscow would also strike Moldova, the source also quotes Andrei Curararu, a security expert and co-founder of WatchDog.md, who said Blinken’s 2022 visit had come at a time of “extreme alert” and uncertainty.
He said the latest trip could lay the groundwork for a more formal bilateral security agreement with the United States of the sort Moldova has reached with France. “A visit of this level also speaks to the fact that the Republic of Moldova is back on the U.S. agenda,” said the expert, being quoted by Euractiv.
