In the press release of the summit of the allies in Vilnius, which was broadcast on Tuesday, NATO asked the Russian Federation to withdraw all its troops from the territory of the Republic of Moldova, placed without the consent of Chisinau in the Transnistrian region, reports Agerpres.

“We once again declare our support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Moldova within its internationally recognized borders and ask Russia to withdraw all its forces stationed in the Transnistrian region without the consent of the Republic of Moldova. We firmly support the right of the Republic of Moldova to decide its own future and the direction of its foreign policy without external interference, and we fully respect the constitutional neutrality of the Republic of Moldova,” the allies said in a statement.

“NATO is strengthening its political and practical support to strengthen resistance and preserve political independence in the context of a deteriorating security environment,” the NATO leaders also said in a statement.

At the same time, “the allies welcome the efforts of the Republic of Moldova to promote democratic reforms and are committed to supporting the Republic of Moldova, which is making progress on the path of European integration.”

NATO expresses its commitment to support the Republic of Moldova

“NATO will continue to provide practical assistance through an enhanced defense capacity building package as the Republic of Moldova works to strengthen its security and defense capabilities and modernize its armed forces,” the allies said in a statement.

Moldpres press agency reminds that the Vice Prime Minister of Moldova, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Niku Popescu is also participating in the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11-12.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the Moldovan official presented regional security developments, the risks posed by the war launched by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and the measures taken by Chisinau to counter the complex security challenges of the Republic of Moldova.

In July of last year, the separatist authorities of Transnistria emphasized that their goal remains “independence” with the goal of unification with Russia.

“The vector of Transnistria’s foreign policy remains unchanged: it is independence and further joining the Russian Federation, which was approved in the 2006 referendum,” the so-called Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR Vitaly Ignatiev said at the time.

The Verkhovna Rada of Transnistria, one of the separatist authorities, appealed after the 2006 referendum to the State Duma in Moscow, the Federation Council (the upper house of the Russian parliament) and the President of Russia to recognize the territory in the east of the Republic of Moldova as an independent and sovereign state.

How Transnistria became a state within a state in the Republic of Moldova

On September 2, 1990, an unrecognized Transnistrian Republic was proclaimed on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, on the left bank of the Dniester, inhabited mainly by the Russian-speaking population.

Out of a total of about 470,000 people, ethnic Russians and Ukrainians together outnumber ethnic Moldovans.

Despite international recognition as part of the Republic of Moldova, the Russian-backed separatist territory has been under the control of separatist authorities since 1992, after the collapse of the Soviet Union sparked conflict between the newly independent Republic of Moldova and separatists who wanted to maintain Soviet ties.

No country, not even Russia, recognizes this territory as independent, but the Moldovan authorities do not control the region, which functions as a separate state.

Tiraspol separatists again demanded in March last year, a few days after the start of the war in Ukraine, that Russia recognize their independence. Russia has about 1,500 troops in Transnistria, which Moscow calls “peacekeeping” forces.