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Protesters in Moldovan capital condemn NATO/US interference in other countries’ affairs

CHISINAU, April 04, /ITAR-TASS/. Participants in actions of protest held on Friday in front of the buildings of the U.S. embassy and NATO mission in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, expressed their frustration with NATO and U.S. interference in the domestic affairs of other countries.

The pickets were organized by a number of public associations including Fatherland Eurasian Union, the Young Russians’ League and ‘I am Moldovan, I speak Moldovan’ on the occasion of a yet another anniversary since NATO’s foundation.

“We know what kind of purposes the North-Atlantic pact is pursuing and we don’t want our authorities to cooperate with it,” said Ivan Muntean, the leader of ‘I am Moldovan’. “This country has a neutral status and the fact is featured in our Constitution.”

“Hundreds of thousands of people died as a result of NATO operations in Yugoslavia and Belgrade, its capital, was heavily devastated,” said Viktor Kalashnikov, the leader of the Young Russians’ League.

“Tens of thousands of human lives have been taken away by the wars unleashed by NATO in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and other countries,” he said. “NATO is the evil force, an ominous creature with an axe to grind against the sisterly countries that once made up the USSR.”

Moldovan authorities believe that this country’s neutral status does not impede a buildup of cooperation with NATO on the basis of a plan for individual partnership.

For instance, NATO is financing the recycling of outdated munitions and pesticides on the Moldovan territory and Moldovan military take part in various peacekeeping operations.

Last year, the national parliament ratified an agreement on participation in the EU-led crisis management operations and a defense treaty with neighboring Romania, which is a NATO member-state.

In the meantime, the country’s largest opposition force, the Communist Party believes that these documents encroach on the neutral status of the republic.

Opinion polls held last year showed that only 17% of the country’s population approved of an idea of its accession to NATO.