DISINFO: NATO tanks at Moldova borders
SUMMARY
NATO tanks reached the borders of the Moldovan state. The Alliance command decided to increase the presence of its ground forces in the immediate vicinity of Moldova to carry out a military exercise exactly during the period of greatest political instability – immediately after the parliamentary elections.
RESPONSE
Indeed, at the end of February 2019, US troops deployed in Europe, along with military equipment, arrived at the "Mihail Kogalniceanu" Air Base in Constanta County. This operation is part of the United States' commitment to securing NATO's Eastern flank security under the Atlantic Resolve Operation. According to the Romanian Ministry of Defense, the military will participate this year in multinational exercises alongside soldiers from the structures of the Romanian Land Forces. The 1st Aviation Brigade deployed military and aviation techniques in Germany, Latvia and Poland during this same period. These operations were not planned in relation to the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova. The link made with the elections is tendentious and tenuous, falling in line with a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative of Western, and particularly US, involvement in Moldova's internal affairs.