Moldova's Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Eugen Carpov has met with a senior U.S. national security official in Washington, a day after Moldova placed its border forces on alert due to concerns about the crisis in neighboring Ukraine.
A White House spokesperson told RFE/RL that Carpov met with Acting U.S. National Security Council Senior Director Tara Leweling at the White House on May 6.
Details of their discussion were not immediately available.
But Carpov said before his talks at the White House that Moldova is deeply concerned about events in eastern Ukraine -- which he called "a geopolitical competition between East and West."
Carpov said Moldovan officials are closely monitoring the way information on developments in eastern Ukraine and Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniester is being presented to television viewers outside of Russia by Russia's state-controlled media.
He also denounced Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea as “a major challenge to international law, political cooperation, and security architecture in Europe.”
Carpov said the Moldovan is “suffering” because it is also part of a geopolitical competition Russia and the West due to pro-Russian separatists in Transdniester who declared independence from Moldova in 1990.
The two sides fought a brief war in 1992 that ended when the Russian military intervened on Transdniester's side.
About 1,500 Russian troops have remained based in the breakaway region since that 1992 conflict.
But no country -- not even Russia -- has recognized Transdniester's independence.
NATO officials have warned that Transdniester could be targeted next by Russia.
Earlier, Moldova’s Foreign Ministry summoned Russia’s top diplomat in Transdniester, Farit Mukhamedshin, to explain Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin's announced attendance at the upcoming Victory Day celebrations.
Moldovan Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman said on May 5 that she had not received official notice of Rogozin's visit for the May 9 celebrations marking the end of World War II.
Rogozin, who is Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy for Transdniester, said last week that he had accepted an invitation from separatist leaders in Tiraspol to attend festivities in Transdniester.
A White House spokesperson told RFE/RL that Carpov met with Acting U.S. National Security Council Senior Director Tara Leweling at the White House on May 6.
Details of their discussion were not immediately available.
But Carpov said before his talks at the White House that Moldova is deeply concerned about events in eastern Ukraine -- which he called "a geopolitical competition between East and West."
Carpov said Moldovan officials are closely monitoring the way information on developments in eastern Ukraine and Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniester is being presented to television viewers outside of Russia by Russia's state-controlled media.
He also denounced Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea as “a major challenge to international law, political cooperation, and security architecture in Europe.”
Carpov said the Moldovan is “suffering” because it is also part of a geopolitical competition Russia and the West due to pro-Russian separatists in Transdniester who declared independence from Moldova in 1990.
The two sides fought a brief war in 1992 that ended when the Russian military intervened on Transdniester's side.
About 1,500 Russian troops have remained based in the breakaway region since that 1992 conflict.
But no country -- not even Russia -- has recognized Transdniester's independence.
NATO officials have warned that Transdniester could be targeted next by Russia.
Earlier, Moldova’s Foreign Ministry summoned Russia’s top diplomat in Transdniester, Farit Mukhamedshin, to explain Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin's announced attendance at the upcoming Victory Day celebrations.
Moldovan Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman said on May 5 that she had not received official notice of Rogozin's visit for the May 9 celebrations marking the end of World War II.
Rogozin, who is Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy for Transdniester, said last week that he had accepted an invitation from separatist leaders in Tiraspol to attend festivities in Transdniester.
