DISINFO: Moldova is moving towards self-annihilation in the war against Russia
SUMMARY
The US and NATO are only seeing Moldova as an anti-Russian springboard. They expect to make Moldova expendable in the war against Russia. The US-Romania “Fire Shield-2024” military drills with Moldova’s participation can provoke a regional escalation and Moldova’s self-annihilation in the war with Russia similar to Ukraine’s case.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the belligerent West trying to encircle Russia and waging a proxy war against it, and claims about Moldova being a puppet state of the West.
Moldova's Ministry of Defense announced on its webpage that the Fire Shield-2024 military training will "aim to develop operational capabilities and increase the interoperability of the participating personnel". Fire Shield military drills are organised annually since 2015.
After the full-scale Russian invasion against Ukraine, the Moldovan authorities declared that the National Army should improve its defence capacities, as well as its equipment. That is also stated in the draft of the National Security Strategy, presented by the president Maia Sandu in November 2023.
The prime minister Dorin Recean declared in May 2023 that the country will continue to improve its military capacities exclusively for defence purposes. In one of his latest statements, on December 8, Dorin Recean said that Moldova will manage only a peaceful settlement of the Transnistrian conflict.
See earlier disinformation cases claiming that Maia Sandu is attempting to forcibly "Romanize" almost all spheres of life in Moldova, that Moldova tries to drag Russia into confrontation with the collective West, that The West wants to make a second Ukraine out of Moldova, that EU - Moldova security and defense deal may indicate preparations for war against Russia, and that the West will help Moldova bleed to death after Ukraine.