NATO Cannot Guarantee Security For Moldova - Deputy Secretary General

NATO will not be able to guarantee security for Moldova at the upcoming summit in Vilnius, Mircea Geoana, the alliance's deputy secretary general, said on Wednesday

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th July, 2023) NATO will not be able to guarantee security for Moldova at the upcoming summit in Vilnius, Mircea Geoana, the alliance's deputy secretary general, said on Wednesday.

The meeting of NATO leaders will take place in Vilnius from next Tuesday to Wednesday.

"NATO has impeccable, active and comprehensive support for Moldova. As (Moldovan President) Maia Sandu also said, being a neutral country does not mean being weak. Therefore, we cannot talk about security guarantees, but the inclusion of Moldova in the European path also implies the evolution of security relations with the European Union," Geoana said on Romanian tv channel Digi 24.

Geoana added that he would chair the meeting of foreign ministers with the participation of Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu.

"Moldova is one of the few partners of the EU and NATO, it is currently facing an all-out hybrid war that Russia is unleashing, and we are very interested in helping the leaders from Chisinau," Geoana stated.

In January, Moldovan President Maia Sandu, in an interview with the Politico newspaper, said the country should abandon neutrality in order to be admitted to a military alliance. Sandu did not specifically mention NATO but had repeatedly stated that the neutrality clause of the constitution could be revised if Moldovans decide they want a rapprochement with NATO.

According to the constitution of Moldova, the republic has a neutral status, but since 1994 the country has been cooperating with NATO within the framework of an individual partnership plan. There is a NATO information center in the Moldovan capital. A bureau for relations with the alliance has been operating since 2017.