NATO: Russia is waging full-scale hybrid war in Moldova
NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana said on Thursday that Russia is waging a full-scale hybrid war against Moldova, including using energy weapons, cyberattacks, disinformation, and influence operations.
Geoana, who is visiting Moldova, said that the alliance does not see a military threat from Russia to the country. However, he said that Moscow is using all of its hybrid warfare tools to destabilise Moldova and undermine its pro-Western government.
"This does not mean that Russia has not triggered and is not carrying out, while we are talking, everything that means the arsenal of hybrid warfare against Moldova, from the use of energy weapons, cyberattacks to disinformation, to influencing democratic mechanisms, to inciting social unrest," Geoana said.
The deputy secretary general said that it is important to strengthen Moldova's resilience while respecting its neutrality.
"That is why we are extremely confident that what President Maia Sandu, Prime Minister Dorin Recean, and the Government of the Republic of Moldova are doing, together with all of us, to strengthen Moldova's resilience in the cyber zone, in the fight against disinformation, in the area of energy independence, and in the area of strengthening military capabilities. We are working together with our partners in Moldova to have an army, national security structures that are compatible with us, efficient, and motivated," Geoana said.
Moldova's Prime Minister Dorin Recean said after his meeting with Geoana that the country must increase its defence capabilities.
"Moldova's neutrality does not mean indifference, Moldova's neutrality does not mean that we should do nothing. That is why we must strengthen our defence capabilities, that is why we must strengthen these investments in the National Army, so that we have the National Army at NATO standards and of course we will have the support of our partners," Recean said.
The prime minister also said that the modernization of the National Army is possible thanks to the support of external partners, including NATO, Romania, the United States, and other NATO countries.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
