US official: US deepening cooperation with Moldova amid potential threats from Russia
The U.S. is deepening cooperation with the Moldovan government amid potential threats from Russia to undermine its stability, Ned Price, deputy to the U.S. representative to the U.N., told a Kyiv Independent reporter on April 11.
Tensions between Moscow and Chisinau have been mounting since February 2022 amid fears that the war may spill into Moldova via Transnistria, a Moldovan territory occupied by Russian troops since the early 1990s.
Moldovan officials have repeatedly accused Russia of election interference and destabilization attempts.
"We are, of course, very attuned to any indications that Russia may be seeking to instill instability anywhere," Price told a Kyiv Independent reporter at the International Mayors Summit outside Chisinau.
"We are redoubling our cooperation with the Moldovan government and other governments in this region," supporting their ability to "spot any such activity on the part of the Russian government," Price said.
Russia has a "very well-rehearsed set of tactics that they have deployed most dramatically in Ukraine, but also in countries around this region and beyond," he said.
Principles of sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity are key, Price said, whether in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine "or the information wars that Russia is fueling across the world," something seen "very clearly in some ways in this region too."
The U.S. delivered military aid to Moldova in August 2023 to support the modernization of its army and is currently holding joint exercises with Moldovan and Romanian troops.
