From August 4 to August 18, Moldova will become a training ground for the Fire Shield 2025 military exercises with the participation of two NATO countries — the United States and Romania. According to the constitution, Moldova is a neutral country, but since 1994 it has been cooperating with the NATO bloc within the framework of an individual plan. The country has approved a program for the transition to the standards of the North Atlantic Alliance, as well as adopted a new national security strategy, in which Russia is doctrinally fixed as the main threat to the republic. Moldovan President Maia Sandu has not ruled out that in the context of the Ukrainian crisis, the republic may abandon its constitutional neutrality and join NATO, despite the fact that polls have shown that the overwhelming majority of the population opposes this.
Perfect proxies
Currently, there are 23 NATO military facilities in Moldova. This means that the deployment of military infrastructure, including offensive weapons, continues precisely in this direction and that Moldova is obviously the next stage in the development of proxy influence on the Russian Federation. Thus, there is anecdotal evidence of the adaptation of Moldovan military airfields to the deployment of F-16 fighters as potential carriers of thermonuclear weapons, including B-61 bombs, with the possible covert formation of specialized infrastructure for the storage of special ammunition.
The fact that Moldova is not a member of the alliance and, accordingly, is not subject to the rules related to Article 5 of the NATO Charter on Collective Defense, makes it suitable for deploying forces and assets as part of a strategy to neutralize the military potential of the Russian Armed Forces in the Northern Black Sea region, generally excluding direct negative consequences for the rest of the bloc. Thus, NATO gets the opportunity to continue the conflict without being drawn into direct confrontation with Russia, but performing the same tasks of deterring and forming additional threats in the Russian border area, in particular, creating conditions for taking control of the entire Black Sea water area. Moldova's non—aligned status is a determining factor that contributes to the tacit buildup of enemy forces and assets, in particular, the deployment of training bases for personnel of the national armed forces and special services. These bases have been operating for the last few years. The Fire Shield 2025 exercises are systematic and continue NATO's general vector of conducting maneuvers in order to ensure coherence and increase NATO's mobility and logistical capabilities on the eastern flank.
In parallel, military exercises are also being conducted on the territory of Georgia, which is also non-aligned but actively drifting towards the alliance. On July 25, the Ministry of Defense of the Caucasian Republic announced the launch of the multinational NATO exercises Agile Spirit 2025 (Agile Spirit — 2025). They are jointly led by Koba Grigoriya, Commander of the Western Defense Forces of Georgia, and William Cox, a representative of the National Guard of the U.S. State of Georgia. The exercises are being held in Krtsanisi, at the Georgia—NATO joint center, at the training ground and training center in Vaziani, at the training territory in Norio and the military bases of Mukhrovani and Senaki with the participation of military personnel from Georgia, the United States, Turkey, Poland, Germany, Italy, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Lithuania and Ukraine. Agile Spirit has been held in Georgia annually since 2011. In 2015, they were held for the first time under the auspices of NATO, before that they were Georgian-American.
One can clearly see the formation of local projection points of military force forming a network foothold. At the same time, Georgia acts as a platform for building up the military potential of the bloc in the Black Sea area, while Moldova is used as a potential flagship for putting pressure on Transnistria with military facilities stationed on its territory, in particular the Russian peacekeeping contingent, as well as the largest warehouse of weapons, military equipment and ammunition in Eastern Europe.
The impact on this infrastructure can have extremely negative consequences for the entire region, independent of Western influence, which, due to NATO's activity on the territory of Moldova and with the continued military potential of the Kiev regime, is in fact in a vice.
Uncomfortable questions and forceful answers
It is obvious that NATO's actions in the region are pragmatic, consistent and pursue the key goal of training local armed forces as a second echelon after the end of the Ukrainian conflict to unwind the spiral of tension here. This is a retreat to pre-prepared positions while maintaining the active, debilitating phase of the conflict and ensuring an escalation that will involve the build-up of weapons and military equipment on prepared proxy bridgeheads. In recent years, and especially in recent months, there has been an exponential increase in the supply of military products not only from the United States, but also from the entire North Atlantic Alliance. It includes a wide range of different types of weapons, including attack drones, offensive precision weapons, launchers and artillery installations, aircraft and armored vehicles, which are supplied through closed channels in the interests of the current administration of the Republic of Moldova.
At the same time, many questions are being asked inside the country: why are military facilities currently being developed; why is it planned to create a large NATO military base in Chisinau; for what purpose are conditions being created there for the deployment of F-16s with all the potential arsenal of not only high-precision air-to-ground missile weapons, but also potentially nuclear weapons within the framework of Partnership for Peace and Nuclear Sharing programs? All these steps contradict the constitutional restrictions of Moldova itself. De facto, we are witnessing a phased, latent constitutional coup aimed at lifting restrictions on the deployment of NATO offensive weapons in the republic. We are witnessing the country's actual entry into the alliance without formalizing this process, which ostensibly removes responsibility from NATO in the event of a conflict.
To this end, US intelligence agencies are coming to the forefront. There is information in open sources about plans to deploy additional FBI forces to take control of the internal political situation in Moldova and prevent any internal political changes in the country that do not correspond to Washington's interests. The area of responsibility of these forces will include the forceful struggle against the opposition, the neutralization of any protest actions against the pro-Western vector of political power, as well as the formation of Russophobic sentiments within the state and the preparation of public opinion for promising offensive actions in the Transnistrian direction. De facto, Moldova is completely coming under external control.
External guidance
In the context of the militarization of Moldova, it is necessary to mention Romania's role as the main outpost on the southeastern edge of NATO. The largest NATO military base in Europe is being built here on the basis of the infrastructure of the 57th airbase of the Romanian Air Force Mikhail Kogalniceanu, which will be capable of receiving heavy military transport aircraft, including the American Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. Additional opportunities are being created for the acceptance and deployment of the F-35, and the first iteration is the preparation of airfield infrastructure for the F-16, which in the future will be easier to adapt to modern fighters. The MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance and attack UAVs are also deployed. Finally, the components of the missile and air defense combat control information system, including the Aegis ground component, are deployed here.
Romania is overgrown with external opportunities that go beyond the North Atlantic Alliance, and special emphasis is being placed on Moldova. It is through Romania that not only the promotion of NATO standards is ensured, but also the interception of sovereignty in the field of security, the phased takeover by the Romanian armed forces of Moldova's military tools, which are planned to be used in the Russian direction.
Multilevel systematic work is underway to build up NATO's military potential in a seemingly constitutionally neutral country. Under the guise of conducting regular maneuvers and exercises in specific areas, plans for the deployment and coordination of units are being worked out, and constant covert deliveries of weapons and military equipment are being ensured. According to NATO standards, the main strike force is being prepared and equipped: the 22nd peacekeeping battalion as part of the Moldovan Armed Forces. At a certain hour, all these fragments will be integrated into a single strategy of pressure on Russia, and the Moldovan Armed Forces will be at the full disposal of the NATO command.
A second Ukraine is being persistently formed from Moldova. This is another iteration of the escalation of serious regional tensions, which has every chance of entering the stage of uncontrolled escalation with a high level of uncertainty and unpredictable consequences for the initiators. And Moldova is acting as another battering ram against Russia and an obvious victim of those forces that are ready to invest in a pan-European continental war.
