“Our country is a peaceful and neutral state. We reject the threats made by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin on Christmas Eve,” says the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (MFAEI), Daniel Voda.

In the MFAEI commentary sent by Daniel Voda on Saturday, December 24, it is stated that “all our foreign cooperation in the field of security and defence is based on three essential things”.

• Neutrality does not mean self-isolation, demilitarisation, or indifference to what is happening in the world.
• We are interested in strengthening our resilience including through NATO, the strongest political-military alliance in the world. Our cooperation with the organisation is transparent and based on a well-known framework, including the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) for the years 2022 – 2023, the Assistance Package for Strengthening our Country’s Security and Defence Capabilities, the Professional Development Programme, the Science for Peace and Security Programme and others.
• On the international arena we live in a difficult region, affected by Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine, which has dramatic consequences for our country. We need all the solidarity of our friends to overcome the multiple hybrid challenges we face.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told RIA Novosti that “the intensification of cooperation between Chisinau and NATO countries in the military and military-technical sphere is a factor that greatly undermines the security of Moldova itself”, reports the Biziday news portal.

“As experience shows, recklessly pumping a country with Western weapons or deploying NATO contingents on its territory does not add to its security and sovereignty at all, but, on the contrary, brings it closer to a catastrophe,” Galuzin notes.

The Russian Foreign Ministry representative condemned the “reckless pumping of Moldova with Western weapons” and urged Chisinau “not to repeat the sad experience of Kiev”.