DISINFO: General Staff of National Army prepares Moldova to join NATO
SUMMARY
The General Staff is openly preparing the national army for the prospective entry into the Western military bloc and the Alliance’s peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan, the Middle East and the African continent.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narratives about EU/ NATO enlargement and the West's strategy of encircling Russia, where each military exercise of Moldovan soldiers is presented as a part of a secret plan to join NATO. A similar case can be found here. According to the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Moldova, the military exercises "Agile Hunter 2019" and "Sea Breeze 2019", to which the reference is made, aim to train soldiers and officers for peacekeeping operations. On top of that, Moldova has never declared its intention to join NATO. It is a constitutionally neutral state, and NATO fully respects Moldova’s constitutional neutrality, as stated on its official web site. Relations with NATO started in 1992, when Moldova joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council, aiming to draw closer to Euro-Atlantic standards and institutions. Concerning a possible enlargement, at the moment, NATO counts 29 states and currently, four partner countries have declared their aspirations for NATO membership: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, the Republic of North Macedonia and Ukraine.