Defense Minister: Pistorius assures Moldova of continued support

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has assured the small Ukrainian neighboring republic of Moldova of support against threats from Moscow. “We will jointly oppose Russian efforts to wage hybrid warfare to destabilize other countries,” said the SPD politician at a meeting with his Moldovan colleague Anatolie Nosatii in the capital Chisinau. Moldova is part of the European family and has taken impressive steps towards EU accession negotiations.

Hybrid warfare means that attackers rely on a combination of traditional military operations, economic pressure, computer attacks and even propaganda in the media and social networks.

Further support against Russia

Pistorius assured Moldova of further support on its path to becoming more resilient to threats from Russia. Contracts have been signed for the delivery of another 14 Piranha-3H protected transport vehicles. 19 of these have already been delivered in 2023. The delivery of shoulder-launched air defence systems is expected to begin next year. Germany is also supporting Moldova in its drone defence.

In addition, the first aid equipment for the entire Moldovan armed forces is at stake, said Pistorius. In this context, first aid backpacks worth almost one million euros are to be delivered by Germany to strengthen defense readiness.

Nosatii thanked Germany for its support through aid projects and in the logistics sector over the past three decades. So far, over 430 Moldovan soldiers have benefited from training courses in various areas such as medicine, artillery and military training. At the moment, they want nothing more “than to have sufficient defense capacities, to maintain peace and to ensure a stable and prosperous security environment for the citizens of the Republic of Moldova,” he said, according to the official translation.

German-Moldovan defence cooperation since 2003

German-Moldovan defense cooperation dates back to 2003, when an agreement on military cooperation was signed. Nosatii showed his German colleague in a barracks complex examples of development projects that Germany has initiated to make the country more resilient to Moscow’s attempts at destabilization. These included several protected Piranha transport vehicles.

Moldova’s pro-European President Maia Sandu wants to push ahead with its connection to the EU, where her country has had candidate status for around two years. At the same time, however, Russia continues to have great influence in the poverty-stricken former Soviet republic with around 2.5 million inhabitants. This is particularly true in the breakaway region of Transnistria, where Russian soldiers have been stationed since the 1990s. In the wake of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, there are repeated fears that Moscow could use unrest in the region as a pretext to escalate the situation.