The Liberal Party requested the Constitutional Court to interpret Article 11 of the Constitution, which refers to Moldova’s status of neutrality, and say if it is implementable as, when the Constitution was adopted and took effect, there were foreign military troops on Moldova’s territory. The Liberals also inquire if the deployment of internationally mandated military troops of groups of states on the country’s territory is not against the constitutional provisions, IPN reports.

The Liberal Party’s head Mihai Ghimpu told a news conference that Russia hasn’t yet fulfilled the promises made in 1994 and continues to keep its armament in southeastern Moldova. If Moldova does not join NATO, it may lose its sovereignty.

“We can guarantee peace only if we join NATO. It’s ridiculous for Russia to demand guaranteeing once again the status of neutrality by a law when we already have a constitutional norm. This is foolishness. As Jews say: “Do the opposite of what your enemies say”. We must exclude this neutrality. We decided to ask the Constitutional Court to interpret Article 11. How can this provision on neutrality work when we have a foreign army on our territory? Moldova can join NATO in such conditions,” said Mihai Ghimpu.

The Liberals said that Moldova cannot exist as an independent state until Russia exerts pressure on it. In this connection, Mihai Ghimpu gave the example of Georgia in 2008 and of Ukraine this year.