Moldova is striving for accession to the EU, while NATO is not a priority, Prime Minister Vlad Filat has said in an interview with the Russian newspaper Kommersant.
He recalled that according to the constitution, Moldova is a neutral country and called on Russia "to ensure this neutrality". "Russian armament and Russian troops are based on our territory. And their number does not matter. One soldier already means their presence here. Imbalance is obvious," Filat said.
Filat said he wants "to give another impetus to relations with Moscow and to solve existing problems step by step" in order to "remove impediments to Moldovan producers on the Russian market".
"On the one hand, we want to befriend and have good relations with Russia, but, at the same time, the EU is opening more and more possibilities for us, while Russia is imposing obstacles. In 2008, we had a trade turnover of 1bn dollars, whereas in nine months of 2009 it fell to 300m dollars. And the crisis has nothing to do with it. The EU is already ranking first in Moldova in terms of trade," Filat said.
