The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Moldova's charge d'affaires on Tuesday and expressed “serious concern over media reports that F-16 aircraft transferred by the West to Ukraine will be stationed at Moldovan airports and will fly out of them to bomb Russia.” The Foreign Ministry in Chisinau, referring to Transnistria, reproached Russia for being “the only country that illegally holds troops and weapons on Moldovan territory.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced in a statement on Tuesday that it had summoned the charge d'affaires Moldova and “expressing serious concern over media reports that Western-supplied F-16 aircraft will be stationed at and departing from airports in Moldova to bomb Russian territory.”
The Moldovan side – as reported Russian Foreign Ministry – called for “strict observance of the neutral status, which is the basis of the statehood of the Republic of Moldova, and refraining from taking steps that could contribute to the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis and have a destructive impact on the situation around Transnistria.”
F-16 on Ukrainian soil Reuters
Neutral
In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chisinau stated that the F-16 aircraft provided by the West Ukrainewill not be stationed on Moldovan territory. “Moldova is not and will not host weapons or military equipment, including aircraft intended for Ukraine,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chisinau said.
The statement added that “Moldova is a neutral state and its institutions will continue to respect the principle of neutrality. In this context, we would like to remind you that the only country that illegally holds troops and weapons on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, without the consent of the authorities, is the Russian Federation,” the Moldovan MFA said. It also recommended that the Russian side seek information from official sources.
Russia destabilizes the situation in Moldova. The streets of Tiraspol. Archive videoReuters Archive
Unit in separatist Transnistria
In the separatist Transnistria, located on the territory of Moldova and dominated by a Russian-speaking population, a Russian military unit numbering 1,500 soldiers is still stationed.
In the early 1990s, Transnistria broke with the authorities in Chisinau and, after a short war accompanied by Russian intervention, won so-called independence, which is not recognized internationally. Transnistria has its own president, army, security forces, tax authorities and currency. Russia informally supports the region economically and politically. Multiple international talks on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria have not yielded results.
Moldova and TransnistriaPAP
The Ministry of Defence also denies
The Moldovan portal NewsMaker recalled that since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Defense in Chisinau has repeatedly denied information appearing on social media that the president Maya Sandu allowed F-16 fighters to fly through Moldova.
Defense Minister Anatoly Nosati also denied reports that the F-16s that the West will send to Ukraine will remain at the Marculesti airport for some time. According to the defense minister, “this false information is spread by politicians who want to destabilize the situation in the country,” NewsMaker wrote.