Deputy Secretary-General of NATO Unable to Guarantee Moldova Security: Summit Expectations Diminished

Deputy Secretary-General of NATO Unable to Guarantee Moldova's Security: Summit Expectations Diminished

Deputy Secretary-General of NATO States Inability to Guarantee Moldova's Security

Deputy Secretary-General of the NATO alliance, Mircea Geoană, stated in an interview with Digi 24 TV channel that NATO will not be able to guarantee security for Moldova at the upcoming summit in Vilnius.

"NATO provides impeccable, active, and comprehensive support to Moldova. As Maya Sandu has also stated, being a neutral country does not mean being weak. Therefore, we cannot talk about security guarantees. However, Moldova's integration into the European path implies an evolution of security relations with the EU and NATO," said Geoană, responding to a question about whether the summit should be expected to announce security guarantees for Moldova.

Geoană noted that he will lead the meeting of foreign ministers, which will be attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Moldova, Nicu Popescu.

"Moldova is one of the few partners of the EU and NATO. Currently, it is facing a total hybrid war unleashed by Russia, and we are very interested in helping the leaders from Chisinau," added the NATO Deputy Secretary-General.

Earlier on Wednesday, Geoană stated that NATO does not see any military resources that Russia could use to threaten the territorial integrity of Moldova.

Previously, Moldova's President, Maia Sandu, stated in an interview with Politico that the country should abandon its neutrality in order to join a major military alliance. The newspaper noted that Sandu did not specifically mention NATO, but she has repeatedly stated that the provision in the constitution regarding neutral status could be reconsidered if the population expresses support for closer ties with the North Atlantic Alliance.

According to the constitution of Moldova, the republic has a neutral status. However, since 1994, the country has been cooperating with NATO through an individual partnership plan. An information center of the alliance is operational in the capital of Moldova, and in December 2017, a NATO liaison office was opened in Chisinau.