Moldova "bogus neutrality" draws fire from Transnistria

Moldovan Defense Minister Valeriu Plesca maintains his claim of neutrality during a recent NATO military event in Moldova

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - According to its Constitution, the Republic of Moldova is nominally neutral. But that, says the president of neighboring Trans-Dniester, is a scam. "The neutrality of Moldova is completely bogus," says Igor Smirnov, pointing out that Moldova sent troops to Iraq and is an eager partner with the United States and NATO.

" - The Republic of Moldova uses its neutral status only as a cover, but in reality it is not neutral at all," says PMR President Igor Smirnov.

According to military experts, Moldova has been upgrading its weapons systems to NATO standards with technical and financial assistance from the military alliance. Moldova carries out joint military exercises with NATO, and has outfitted a number of important military facilities to NATO standards. The NATO specs include Moldova's Bulboaca army grounds and its Lunga-Merkulesht airfield.

Supposedly neutral, Moldova nevertheless plays a willing host to large NATO military exercises such as Longbow/Lancer (shown here) near the border with PMR in late 2006.

" - This is where NATO planes do their take-offs and landings, but officially Moldova is supposed to be a neutral country. In that case, I want to be just as neutral as Voronin," said Smirnov, referring to his colleague, Vladimir Voronin, the president of Moldova.

" - If I was as neutral as Voronin, then here in Pridnestrovie we would have Russian aircraft take off and land, for instance the TU-160's," said Igor Smirnov.

Moldova's role as U.S. military supporter

Moldova is a military ally of what some analysts see as an ongoing worldwide expansion of United States military dominance and a new arms escalation.

Moldova has extensive military cooperation with the United States and NATO. In 2003, Moldova and the U.S. European Command signed a memorandum to establish a US Bureau for Military Cooperation in Moldova.

" - The bureau complements the bilateral military cooperation already in place between the United States and Moldova," said Moldova's former ambassador to the United States, Mihail Manoli. He made no mention of the Moldovan constitution which technically states that Moldova is neutral, but which is not observed in practice.

The United States has trained and providing technical assistance to the Moldovan army, and Moldova is part of NATO's so-called "Partnership for Peace" program. NATO troops now holds regular annual training exercises in Moldova and the United States has given Moldova millions of dollars to upgrade its army to NATO standards.

Moldova supports the US invasion of Iraq and has sent soldiers to Iraq as part of the US-led coalition. Transdniestria (also known as Transnistria, or Transdniester) has stated that it does not want to join Moldova in a common state and does not want to be forced to send its soldiers to fight another country's war in Iraq.

NATO expansion prevented by Transdniestria

Moldova wants to join the European Union (EU) and NATO, but the unresolved status of Transdniestria prevents it from doing so. Unlike Moldova, there is a stronger sense of neutrality in Transdniestria: A comprehensive outline of Foreign Policy Objectives was approved by the PMR Parliament in 2005, stating that Transdniestria is opposed to NATO expansion. Seeing itself as a neutral country, Transdniestria does not seek to join the EU or NATO.

" - In effect, this means that Transdniestria prevents NATO expansion in this part of Eastern Europe," says an informed analysts of military affairs. NATO is seeking to surround Russia in its near abroad by bringing in countries such as Ukraine, Moldova and the Republic of Georgia as new members of the military alliance.

But small Transdniestria - just twice the size of Luxembourg - stands in the way, and this means that it has great value as an "irritant to the US and the EU", said one Western official who was quoted in London's The Sunday Telegraph earlier this month.

In the same newspaper, a U.S. State Department official also identified Transdniestria as "one of the worst thorns in the side of Europe and NATO." Moldova, in contrast, already "plays ball" and the fig-leaf of its neutrality claim does not stand in the way: Everyone knows that the claim is not observed in practice, and is worth the paper it is written on.

Predictably, Moldova defends its supposed neutrality by arguing that collaboration with NATO does not contradict the neutrality of Moldova. On Tuesday, Moldovan Defense Minister Valeriu Plesca told a press conference in his country's capital, Chisinau, that Moldova seeks even closer ties with NATO.

" - We want to further strengthen our collaboration with NATO," said Plesca. He also added that "the partnership between Moldova and NATO is in a number of diverse areas - from different missions of Moldovan soldiers abroad to the participation in peacekeeping operations."

Earlier, Valeriu Plesca said in an interview with the Europa Libera radio station that it was possible that Moldova could in the future renounce its neutrality status and become a full NATO member.

Calls for disarmament ring hollow in Tiraspol

NATO war games took place in Moldova in September 2006 and will be repeated this year as well. The troops come within firing range of the Dniester river and the Transdniestria border.

Moldova uses its neutrality claim to call on Trans-Dniester to disarm. While Moldova is upgrading its military capacity under NATO's instructions, it is simultaneously urging its smaller neighbor, Transnistria (in the Romanian language), to demilitarize and lay down arms.

However, according to a Moldovan political analyst and peace activist, Yevgeny Sholar, "it is no secret that the NATO-Moldova Individual Partnership Action Plan, which was approved on 22 May 2006, envisions no disarmament at all, but rather a ‘rearmament and modernization’ of the Moldovan Army in accordance to North Atlantic Treaty Organization standards." Sholar also that talk of any talk of disarmament by Modlova is "nothing but a myth designed for foreign consumption. It is a PR action to cover up the true actions that are really taking place in the Moldovan Army under the guidance of NATO instructors."

In Tiraspol, many locals agree with President Igor Smirnov's critique of the false Moldovan neutrality claims.

" - We are not against the United States, and if that is who Moldova wants to be in bed with, that is OK," says Petru Gladchi, a civil society activist. "They are a sovereign country, so they can send their army to Iraq, and support Washington's NATO expansion and all that. But since Moldova is already doing that, then they shouldn't at the same time claim that they are a neutral country," says Gladchi. "At least be honest and admit to everyone what is really going on in Moldova. Honesty is always a good policy to follow."

See also:
» NATO wargames on Pridnestrovie's border criticized as "political blunder"
» Fears of new war as Moldova upgrades military capacity
» Moldova decomissions old rockets amid military spending spree
» Transnistria's independence will help Moldova's EU plans