WASHINGTON -- Moldovan Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi said it is encouraging to Moldova that a declaration issued at the NATO summit in Washington calls on Russia to withdraw all its forces from Moldova and also welcomes Moldova’s reform efforts.
“We are happy to see Moldova mentioned and also the acknowledgement of the...positive efforts that we are [making] to reform the Republic of Moldova, but also the call for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Republic of Moldova, which is a very important message,” Popsoi, who is also a deputy prime minister, told RFE/RL on July 11 on the sidelines of the summit.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu has repeatedly demanded an end to the presence in Moldova's breakaway Transdniester region of hundreds of Russian troops at a Soviet-era weapons depot.
The declaration agreed upon by the leaders of the 32 NATO countries on July 10 has one sentence about the withdrawal of all Russian forces from Moldova. It also has one sentence on Moldova’s efforts to continue democratic reforms.
Popsoi said at a panel discussion at the summit that, while there is always room for improvement, Moldova has been on the agenda of its friends and partners in NATO and the European Union and has “received remarkable support in the last few years.”
This was especially true during the energy crisis that rocked Moldova as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he said, adding that the crisis has eased recently thanks to the resilience of the Moldovan people and “the generous support of the international community that has come to the rescue of not just Ukraine, but also the Republic of Moldova.”
Popsoi said Moldova and the Moldovan people have also made achievements on their own, citing energy independence from Gazprom after 30 years of being tied to the Russian energy giant.
“Russian gas contracts come with significant political strings attached and we suffered more than our fair share through this political blackmail,” he said.
He also touted the 30 years that Moldova has been in NATO’s Partnership for Peace program and its contributions to peacekeeping missions in Kosovo, Lebanon, Somalia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, saying that Moldova is “firmly committed to be not just a security consumer given our challenges, given the Russia-backed separatists region.”
Popsoi told RFE/RL that Moldova now has a chance to make further progress through accession talks with the European Union that began on June 25.
“We count on the accession process helping us advance when it comes to our economic circumstances, but also democratic institutions,” he said, calling the accession negotiations “a key priority for us” and a chance to fulfill the “sincere craving of our citizens to return to the European family of nations.”
Whether Moldovans are hungry enough to become part of the EU will be tested on October 20 when a referendum on joining the 27-nation bloc takes place alongside the country’s presidential election.
Popsoi said Sandu’s government is counting on the citizens of Moldova to back the referendum.
“There's a lot of attempts to divide us domestically, to paint a negative picture of what we want to achieve. And this referendum is another democratic exercise for the Moldovan people to speak out,” he said. “And we are confident that they will support a prosperous, a peaceful future for their children in the European family of nations.”
On joining NATO, he said the question is being debated in Moldova, where “you don't need to look far” to see the risks of the region, he said.
He said many Moldovans believe that neutrality ensures security but "that is, of course, a questionable proposition in light of historic experience,” adding, “But nonetheless, in a democratic society, we need to abide by the will of the majority, and for now, there is not a majority in Moldova that would support NATO membership.”