Moldova’s defence ministry has sent troops to Romania to participate in NATO’s Saber Guardian 2023 exercise, the third and final stage of Defender Europe 23 drills. SG23 will bring together about 10 thousand military personnel – including more than 2,400 US troops and 7,300 multinational participants from Albania, Bulgaria, Italy, France, Greece, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal and the Netherlands. The manoeuvres will take place from 29 to 9 June simultaneously at military training grounds in the Romanian counties of Constanta, Ialomita, Brasov, Galati, Braila and Tulcea.

According to the constitution of Moldova, Moldova has neutral status, but since 1994 the country has been cooperating with NATO within the framework of an individual partnership plan. Over 60% of Moldovans oppose closer ties with the US-led military alliance. 

The defence department of Moldova, whose Eastern territories are partially under de-facto Russian control, issued a statement that:
“The Moldovan military contingent, in particular the soldiers of the Stefan the Great motorised infantry brigade, is travelling to neighbouring Romania to participate in the multinational SG23 manoeuvres. The column of military equipment will move to Romania on Monday, May 29, we ask citizens to remain calm and refrain from video and photographing the movement of the army arsenal.”

The move comes as the West offers to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets. The Russian Foreign Minister, Valery Lavrov, has characterised this as an unacceptable escalation. “Those in charge are Washington, London and their satellites within the European Union (EU), primarily the Baltic States and Poland,” he said, and appealed to “reasonable people” in the West who understand this.  “It is playing with fire. Without a doubt. I hope that sane people will finally stop wholeheartedly supporting the neo-Nazi regime created by the West.”