MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. A new EU civilian mission to Moldova is unlikely to help stabilize the situation in the country and the region, given that the EU has turned into a geopolitical tool of the United States and NATO, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"We see that the EU is increasingly trying to gain a foothold in the post-Soviet space. It uses the deployment of its field presences as a tool," the diplomat said, referring to the decision of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg on April 24 to set up a new civilian mission of the European Union in Moldova.

"Taking into account the fundamentally changed nature of the EU, which has turned into a geopolitical tool of the US and NATO and openly confronts Russia, the new presence in Moldova will hardly contribute to the stabilization of the situation in the country and the neighboring region. Therefore, we should treat it accordingly," Zakharova said.

According to the spokeswoman, the EU will through the mission exercise de facto external administration of Moldova. "Emphasizing the partner nature of the new mission, the EU, as always, is deceiving. The mission will be deployed under the Common Security and Defense Policy of the EU. The signboard should not create any illusions about what the EU representatives will be doing there, exercising de facto external management of Moldova," Zakharova pointed out.

The diplomat recalled the history of the European Union's "mediation efforts". "For example, the EU's fruitless attempts to implement the agreement reached in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue on the creation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities of Kosovo, which is openly sabotaged by the Kosovo authorities with the full connivance of the EU and the US. Even the ‘civilian’ mission of the European Union in Armenia, deployed for geopolitical reasons in February of this year, did not contribute to the normalization of relations in the North Caucasus. So the European Union has nothing to boast about," the diplomat concluded.

Earlier, the EU Council announced the approval of a civilian mission to help Moldova counter hybrid and cyber threats, as well as "foreign interference and manipulation of information.".