Russia’s Lavrov Says Moldova Being Dragged into NATO

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Moldova is being dragged into NATO, which is, according to him, detrimental to its security.  Responding to a question from Interfax as to whether Moldova should be worried about Russia’s so-called special operation, i.e. the war in Ukraine, he replied: “They need to worry about their future because they’re being dragged into NATO. I don’t think that would amplify Moldova’s security.”

Lavrov’s announcement came after a series of terrorist acts in Transnistria, which borders Moldova, followed by a claim made by a representative of the Russian army that Moscow wants to establish a land corridor to the unrecognized republic where Russian speakers are purportedly being discriminated against.

Lavrov has made several big statements recently. On April 25 he said that he does not rule out a nuclear war taking place, saying that the threat is a real one.

But just days later he refuted his own claim, saying that Russia has never toyed with “such dangerous things”, saying that the West must “discipline speakers, including our Ukrainian and Polish colleagues, who toy with these [nuclear war] statements”, adding that Russia is not at war with NATO. It is NATO that it is at war with Russia because Western leaders keep saying that Putin must not win in Ukraine.

Moldovan President Maya Sandu recently acknowledged that the country has no combat-ready army, adding that the war in Ukraine proves that the country’s armed forces must be bolstered and modernized.