German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius visited Moldova on Friday against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
He was received with military honors on Friday by his Moldovan colleague Anatolie Nosatîi in the capital Chișinău. Pistorius would then visit a barracks that is part of German development projects to make the country more resilient in the face of Moscow’s attempts at destabilization.
Pistorius would also be shown several armored transport vehicles, paid for by Germany. The German government has also supplied the country with medical equipment.
Moldova’s pro-European President Maia Sandu wants to make progress with the country’s integration into the European Union. The country has had the status of candidate country for the EU for about two years.
At the same time, however, Russia continues to exert great influence in the economically poor former Soviet republic, which has a population of about 2.5 million. Russian soldiers have been stationed in the breakaway region of Transnistria since the 1990s.
There are renewed fears that Moscow could use the unrest in the region as a pretext for escalation in the aftermath of the war against Ukraine.
