Speaker after drone detected in southern Moldova: Russian ambassador must be summoned

The accredited ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Moldova should be summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after a drone carrying explosives was detected in the south of the country. This is the opinion of Speaker Igor Grosu, who also emphasized that the Republic of Moldova must continue to invest in strengthening its airspace.

“I believe the ambassador will be called in. (...) He must be summoned. This is yet another incident, a challenge to the security of the Republic of Moldova. And it comes from the Russian Federation. All the more so as this is the second case involving explosives,” Igor Grosu said at a TV show.

At the same time, Igor Grosu underlined that the Republic of Moldova must continue to invest in strengthening its airspace in order to be protected from such incidents.

“This once again shows that our decision to strengthen our airspace was the right one. We must continue to do this, even if some try to find fault with it. We must continue to invest and that is what we will do, because it is about our security, and as long as we have, unfortunately, a war nearby, a horrible war, we must not sit back and rely on someone else to defend us,” he said.

A drone approximately 2.5 meters long was detected on Thursday morning, at around 09:25, in the garden of an uninhabited house in the village of Crocmaz, Ștefan Vodă district. The object was spotted by citizens, who alerted law enforcement.

After the drone was discovered, President Maia Sandu said at a press conference that the Republic of Moldova must invest in capabilities to protect its airspace, noting that condemnatory reactions to such incidents are not enough.

In the evening, Minister of Defense Anatolie Nosatîi announced that the National Army sappers had defused the drone. It was transported to a safe location and destroyed. According to the official, the aircraft was operational and had about 50 kg of explosives on board.