The State Duma announced the danger of the collapse of Moldova in case of joining NATO

Moldova’s accession to NATO could lead to the destruction of the country’s statehood, Leonid Kalashnikov (KPRF), chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, told Vedomosti.

“If Moldova would like to destroy its own state, then this is the best way <…>. If they think that they, like Finland or Sweden, on the sly, quickly, taking advantage of the situation, can join NATO and nothing will happen to them in their own country, then they should remember something else. The fact that in Finland there are two official languages ​​and the peoples who inhabit the country are respected there. And they have [Молдавии] eat [автономное территориальное образование] Gagauzia <…> and [непризнанная республика] Pridnestrovie, which is inhabited by a Russian-speaking population and which expressed its will long ago, in the early 1990s,” he said.

Kalashnikov stressed that Russia’s attitude to the possible entry of Moldova into NATO will be negative, as this is a “security threat” to the Russian Federation.

“One thing is a statement, and another thing is when a country enters [в военный альянс]. Usually we react to the actions that are taken. Moldova has recently been upsetting us with a number of its decisions,” Svetlana Zhurova (United Russia), First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told Vedomosti. She is confident that the Russian Foreign Ministry “knows how to respond” [на заявление президента республики Майи Санду].

sandu stated Politico on January 20 that there is a serious discussion in Moldova about the country’s ability to defend itself and the possibility of joining a “larger alliance”. The conflict in Ukraine has caused a “revaluation of values” in the republic in relation to the neutrality enshrined in the constitution, the publication reported. “And if at some point we as a nation come to the conclusion that we need to change neutrality, this should happen through a democratic process,” the president said. Politico notesthat Sandu tried not to mention NATO in her comment.

Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Andrey Klimov (“United Russia”) asked on her Telegram channel, whether Sandu is ready to repeat the “suicidal policy” of Ukrainian presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Petro Poroshenko. “The catastrophic problems of Ukraine began after the pro-Western coup d’état [2014 г.]followed by the rejection of the previously existing constitutional neutrality of “square” and the official proclamation of Kyiv’s course towards joining the anti-Russian military bloc NATO,” he wrote.

In January, the Moldovan president announced that the country had asked its Western allies to beef up its air defense capabilities.

In June 2022, the Moldovan parliament adopted a law on the protection of the information space, which prohibits the rebroadcasting of news and analytical programs and war films from Russia. On June 19 of the same year, a law came into force in the republic banning Russian news programs. January 20, 2023 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova urged Moldova to lift the previously introduced discriminatory bans on the broadcasting of Russian and Russian-language media in the country.