CHISINAU, January 10. /TASS/. Germany’s announcement of weapons supplies to Moldova is a threat to stability in the region, Foreign Minister of the unrecognized republic of Transnistria Vitaly Ignatyev said on Tuesday.
"I don’t rule out that this hardware may be deployed near the security zone [along the Dniester River] or directly there. Instead of making political and diplomatic efforts to settle the problem in a civilized, constructive way, we see an absolutely different approach, which will not lead to stability and security on the Dniester banks," the ministry quoted him as saying on its Telegram channel.
The Moldovan defense ministry said on Monday that the first batch of Piranha armored combat vehicles would arrive in the country on January 10 under the 2021 intergovernmental agreement to assist in the modernization of the Moldovan army.
Despite constitutional neutrality, the Moldovan authorities increased their 2023 defense budget by 68%, to 1.523 million leus (89 million US dollars), or 0.5% of the GDP. Earlier, the United States, the European Union and NATO announced plans to give military assistance to the republic. According to the defense ministry, the Moldovan army is already receiving firearms. Supplies of state-of-the-art mobile platforms, communication means, and drones are planned.
The division line along the Dniester River is being guarded by Moldovan, Transnistrian, and Russian peacekeepers, who were deployed to the zone of combat operations in Transnistria in late July 1992 under the agreement on the principles of peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in Moldova’s Transnistrian region. A team of Ukrainian military observers had been deployed in the area until March 2022.