Russia-Ukraine war: Moldova parliament condemns Russia's invasion of Ukraine

The Moldovan parliament has adopted a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that started in February last year. The war has become a factor in the tensions between Moscow and Chisinau.

The Moldovan parliament on Thursday adopted the declaration condemning Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, with 55 lawmakers of the 101-member assembly voting in support. The declaration stated that Russia’s invasion started with its annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and the parliament’s demand that Russian forces completely withdraw from Ukraine. The declaration also said that Russia was waging an illegal, unprovoked, and unfounded war of aggression in Ukraine that violated the principles of international law while echoing calls by Ukraine to hold Russia accountable for war crimes in an international tribunal.

Tensions between Russia and Moldova, which shares a border with Ukraine, have grown since the war. The Moldovan government protested to Moscow that its missiles entered Moldovan airspace and that missile debris has landed on Moldovan soil. Chisinau has also accused Moscow of trying to topple the pro-Europe Moldovan government.

Russia has denied the allegations and instead accused Ukraine and other countries of creating instability in Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria region, where 1,500 Russian troops are currently stationed. Chisinau and Kyiv have dismissed Moscow’s accusation.

The British defense ministry said in its intelligence update on Friday that Russian defense companies are still looking to showcase their products in major international arms fairs amidst Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The ministry cited a Russian firm’s showcasing of the Arena-E active protection system that aims to improve the durability of armored vehicles at a recent arms event. The system was promoted as a system that “defeats the threats that are most dangerous for armored vehicles…if you value your armor and crews you need Arena-E,” according to the ministry.

“There has been no evidence of Arena-E systems being installed on Russia’s own vehicles in Ukraine, where it has lost over 5,000 armored vehicles,” said the ministry. “This is likely due to the Russian industry’s inability to manufacture high-tech systems at scale; a problem which is exacerbated by the effect of international sanctions.”