There are no direct military risks threatening the Republic of Moldova at present, assured Minister of Defense Anatolie Nosatyi. According to the official, the scenario of Moldova’s involvement in the war is increasingly unlikely. To cause tensions in society, internal and external forces that serve Russia’s interests resort to disinformation and propaganda. Moldova’s air defense systems are very old and their modernization necessitates colossal investments, IPN reports.
The minister said yesterday’s reports about cruise missiles that were launched from the Black Sea and violated Moldova’s airspace are false and this fact was confirmed by national experts and by the country’s foreign partners. Disinformation is an element of the hybrid war waged by Russia on the Republic of Moldova.
“The possibility of a military aggression is less probable and therefore someone tries to destabilize the situation using other methods, such as disinformation and fake news, so as to discredit the country’s administration and to generate tensions in society. I refer both to domestic forces and to external forces. There is now no imminent danger of a military confrontation or military aggression. If someone intends to stage something in our territory, this will definitely be an act of war. For now, we see only the collateral effects of the war in Ukraine,” Anatolie Nosatyi stated in the program “Shadow Cabinet” on JurnalTV channel.
According to the minister, Moldova does not have funds to purchase a modern aid defense system, but the system for monitoring the airspace can be improved so as to warn the population about possible dangers.
“The violation of the airspace can lead to incidents related to air traffic. The rocket fragments that fall in our territory can cause human losses. No one wants this, especially we. We want peace, security and no way want direct involvement in the war. The National Army was properly equipped with air defense systems 30 years ago. But this equipment becomes useless if no investment is made in maintaining it. An air defense system can be used for 20-25 years and the cost of modernization of the air defense system is very big. It is almost the same as the price of a new system,” said Anatolie Nosatyi, noting they now aim to improve airspace surveillance so as to monitor the situation and to inform the population about eventual dangers in real time.
He also said that a medium extended air defense system with a range of 40-50 km costs about €80 million, while a more sophisticated system like Patriot or S-400 costs approximately €1 billion.
