The Republic of Moldova will keep its status of neutrality, as provided by the Constitution, Prime Minister Iurie Leanca said in the program “Moldova live” on the public TV channel Moldova 1, IPN reports.

“For the moment, there is the Constitution that stipulates that the Republic of Moldova is a neutral state, with the majority of polls showing that most of the people are for keeping the neutrality. To join the EU, a country is not obliged to join NATO as well. Such countries as Finland or Sweden are not members of the NATO, but form part of the EU,” argued the head of Government.

Iurie Leanca said the situation now is stable and there are no reasons for concern and risks from outside as Moldova has two neighboring countries that will not attack it – Ukraine and Romania. “Until now, we managed to maintain stability and are making effort to keep the situation under control,” he stated.

However, the Premier regrets the presence of Russian troops on Moldova’s territory. But he considers that the relations with Tiraspol stabilized.

As to the recent visit to Chisinau and Tiraspol by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Iurie Leanca said that unlike the previous visit, this time the protocol norms were respected, the program of the visit being coordinated beforehand. Also, the discussions held with Rogozin were constructive and the official assured that the Moldovan citizens working in Russia will not be discriminated.