MOLDOVA, US SIGN MILITARY AGREEMENT.

The US and Moldovan defense ministers, William Perry and Lt. General Pavel Creanga, have signed a memorandum on military cooperation providing for information exchanges among the two ministries, bilateral consultations, and advanced courses for Moldovan officers in US military schools. During his visit to Washington, Creanga also conferred with National Security Council officials on the Transdniester conflict, and asked for a more active US support in bringing about the withdrawal of Russian troops from Moldova. At the same time in Chisinau, President Mircea Snegur reaffirmed at a news conference that Moldova will not join either a western or an eastern alliance system. (11)

Moldova is walking a tightrope between its quest for security guarantees against Russian military pressure and its need to persuade Russia that Moldova would not seek to join NATO if Russian troops withdraw from the country. Reflecting that dilemma, Moldova’s constitution (1994) enshrines the country’s neutrality and bans foreign forces and bases. The constitution supplies a defensive argument against Moscow’s demands to legalize the stationing of its troops in Moldova or draw the country into CIS collective security arrangements; but by the same token it constrains military cooperation with the West.

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