NATO countries are concerned about Russian actions on their border, but will continue to pursue dialogue whilst adapting NATO’s deterrence posture to address Russia’s destabilizing actions, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said when speaking after the first day of the meeting of the North Atlantic Council which was held on line with the participation of the foreign ministers of the NATO member states, IPN reports, quoting Agerpres.

“I would like to congratulate the President-elect (Maia Sandu, e.n.).  The Republic of Moldova is a NATO partner. I’m eager to meet with her at a certain moment as we surely appreciate the cooperation with Moldova as a partner of our Alliance.”

“We see how Russia has deployed troops in violation of the wishes of different governments in our close neighborhoods, how Russia has illegally annexed Crimea, how they continue to destabilize eastern Ukraine, how there are Russian troops in parts of Georgia, and also how there are troops in Moldova, in Transnistria. And this is a violation of the territorial integrity of Moldova and is yet another example of how Russia far too often does not respect international law and the territorial integrity of countries, including Moldova,” stated Stoltenberg.

President-elect Maia Sandu on November 30 said the position of the Republic of Moldova was and remains that the Russian troops should be withdrawn from the Transnistrian region and the munitions that the Russian side says it is guarding there should also be withdrawn.

Representatives of the Kremlin, including Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov, said the withdrawal of the Russian peacekeeping troops will lead to destabilization.