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Moldova plans to host NATO bases

This was stated by the State Security Committee (KGB) of the unrecognized Trans-Dniester Republic

© EPA/SAKINFORM

CHISINAU, January 15. /ITAR-TASS/. Moldova’s ruling pro-European coalition intends to abandon the country’s neutral status and provide the national Air Force infrastructure to NATO, the State Security Committee (KGB) of the unrecognized Trans-Dniester Republic has said in a statement.

“During visits of senior officials from the United States and Romania to Moldova in early December 2013, the sides reached an agreement on the future abandonment of the neutral status by the republic and subsequent entry into NATO,” the document says. The Trans-Dniester intelligence agencies also claim that the Moldovan leadership has committed itself “in the near future to provide its military bases to NATO, in particular, airfields near the settlements of Cahul (south of the country) and Marculesti (north).”

“The geopolitical choice of Moldova towards integration in the NATO military-political structure, as well as the voiced intention to provide bases for permanent deployment in the country to the Alliance’s armed forces is a serious challenge to peace and security on the Dniester,” the Trans-Dniester KGB said in the statement. Its authors warned, “the entire responsibility for Moldova’s integration in NATO military structures and the related possible geopolitical consequences rests with the Moldovan side.”

Moldova has refuted these accusations. “The allegations contained in the statement are unfounded and are aimed at escalating tension in the security zone of the Trans-Dniester conflict,” Valeriu Rusu, an adviser to the Moldovan defense minister, told Itar-Tass.

Moldova is a neutral country, according to its Constitution. To change this status, it is necessary to removed from the basic law the clause on neutrality, which requires support of the country’s 86 lawmakers from the total 101. The ruling pro-European coalition controls 53 MP votes and has no constitutional majority in the national parliament. The opposition Communist Party, which currently opposes the country’s entry in NATO and the republic’s association agreements with the EU, has 34 mandates.

“The Moldovan leadership by its actions violates the country’s neutral status and aims to oust Russia from the region,” believes Artur Reshetnikov, a Communist MP and former head of the Moldovan secret services. According to him, the residents of the left bank of the Dniester River are concerned over the setting of migration posts by Moldova along the Trans-Dniester conflict security zone, on the demand of the EU. Reshetnikov said that the Joint Control Commission (JCC), controlling the peacekeeping operation in the Trans-Dniester region, had not given “a green light” to the posts’ setting up. “Everything that happens near the security zone is a time bomb,” warned Reshetnikov.

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