The Kremlin has reacted to President Maia Sandu’s statement that Moldova needs to better equip the National Army in the face of threats posed by Russia.
“Moldova should not see any threat (in Russia)”, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov was quoted by Tass as saying. “Seeking good, mutually-advantageous and mutually respectful relations with us could be in Moldova’s interest”.
President Maia Sandu said earlier that the Ukraine war developments lead the authorities to think more seriously about the need to modernize the National Army. She said that in case of a Russian invasion, Moldovan troops cannot be sent into battle without military equipment.
“The Republic of Moldova is and will remain a peaceful country. We don’t want weapons to use them for fighting our neighbors, as Russia does. We want to be safe at home and we want no one to attack us. Even if our defense system is in a very poor state, if it weren’t for this Russian aggression against Ukraine, we probably wouldn’t have talked too much about the need to equip our army. But seeing what Russia is doing in Ukraine, it would be totally unserious not to think about how to defend ourselves if such a tragedy happens to us. I really hope we don’t get there, but it’s not up to us (…) If Russia comes here, what do we do? Are we sending the army to defend us with a hoe? We do not want anyone to entangle us in the war, but it is a reality for which we must prepare”, said Maia Sandu during a TV show.
But Peskov described as irrelevant attempts to compare the relations between Moscow and Kiev and those between Moscow and Chisinau. “Unlike Ukraine, Moldova never turned into an anti-Russian hub (…) That is a different story”, he said.
“Moldova is a democratic country where things are decided by the people. At the time when the Constitution was adopted, the people decided that we must be a neutral country. But neutral countries usually have a very strong and well-equipped army. We are a neutral country and we have an army that has not been invested in. We cannot close our eyes and pretend that there is no war”, declared Maia Sandu.
