{"id":443323,"date":"2017-01-23T21:48:29","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T21:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/?p=443323"},"modified":"2017-01-24T10:21:55","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T10:21:55","slug":"moldova-president-dodon-wants-prevent-opening-nato-civil-office-parliament-speaker-reacts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/moldova-president-dodon-wants-prevent-opening-nato-civil-office-parliament-speaker-reacts\/","title":{"rendered":"Moldova President Dodon wants to prevent the opening of the NATO civil office, Parliament speaker reacts"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

In a recent interview for Russia Today<\/a>, Moldova’s President, Igor Dodon, declared he would attempt to prevent the opening of a NATO representation office in the Moldovan capital Chi\u0219in\u0103u.<\/p>\n

Dodon believes that the opening of the NATO office is to make Moldova “join some military alliances”\u00a0<\/em>in the future. Moreover, Dodon stated that, during his next visit to Brussels, he would ask the NATO leadership to “publicly support and sign the agreement, which would recognize the neutrality of the Republic of Moldova”<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Asked about NATO’s intentions to support reforms in Moldova through the liaison office, Dodon said he would continue to block these attempts, in order to counteract the advance of the Alliance. The Moldovan President strongly kept his anti-NATO, Russia-friendly rather than neutral position:<\/p>\n

“Of course, there is some NATO propaganda in our country, but the majority of Moldovans are totally opposed to the idea of joining NATO. That is why, in the foreseeable future, I don\u2019t believe there is a chance something will change. But it doesn\u2019t mean that now is the time to relax, not by a long shot. So we are going to block all these attempts, like creating a liaison office and so on. We are going to oppose all the suspicious joint military exercises \u2013 what is the point in them? Who is Moldova going to war with? Why are there American tanks in Chisinau? I mean it\u2019s clear they are not there because of Syria. What we do have close to us is Transnistria and Russia. So it\u2019s very dangerous for us to play this kind of game.”,\u00a0<\/em>said Dodon.<\/p>\n

Moldova Parliament speaker, Democrat Andrian Candu, could not wait to assure President Dodon\u00a0that country’s neutrality is ensured by the Constitution:<\/p>\n

“The neutrality of the Republic of Moldova is confirmed in the Constitution and there’s no cause for worry that the neutrality would be lost or that foreign military could come to Moldova (except those already deployed in the Transnistrian region). In this regard, the worries of President Igor Dodon are unfounded”<\/em>, pointed out Candu.<\/p>\n

The speaker emphasized that the NATO Office in Moldova is nothing more but a technical, information and communication bureau to facilitate the dialogue between the Moldovan military and the international institution. Candu mentioned that the cooperation with NATO started during the rule of the Communists’ Party (when Dodon was part of the Government).<\/p>\n