“I would like to congratulate the newly elected president, Maia Sandu. Moldova is a partner of NATO. I look forward to meeting her and we appreciate the cooperation with Moldova as a partner of our Alliance. We see how Russia has deployed troops that violate international law, how Russia has illegally annexed Crimea, how it continues to destabilize eastern Ukraine, how there are Russian troops in regions of Georgia, and also how there are troops in Moldova, in Transnistria” said the NATO Secretary-General.

The statements of the NATO Secretary-General come after the Kremlin’s attacks in recent days against the President-elect, Maia Sandu, who stated that Russia must withdraw its troops from the Transnistrian region, and the mission of peacekeeping must be replaced by a civilian one, with an international mandate, under the auspices of the OSCE and the UN.

Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov considered Maia Sandu’s statement “irresponsible” because “it does not contribute to resolving the conflict in the region.” He stated that it is unlikely that Moscow will be able to take such a step. The troops in the Transnistrian region are “to maintain a stable situation and to guard the ammunition depots, which are dangerous and cannot be left unattended.”