Report Says McCain To Visit Moldova

U.S. Senator John McCain

CHISINAU -- RFE/RL's Moldovan Service is quoting officials from Moldova's Foreign Ministry as saying that U.S. Senator John McCain is due to visit Chisinau on April 17.

McCain, a Republican former presidential candidate, on March 12 called for the faster integration of Georgia and Moldova into the structures of NATO.

There has been growing concern of a possible Russian incursion across Ukraine to occupy Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniester.

Pro-Russian Transdniester declared independence from Moldova in 1990, and the two sides fought a war in 1992.

The region's independence has not been recognized by any country. Russia still has some 1,400 troops in Transdniester, which it describes as peacekeepers.