BUCHAREST, Romania — Pro-EU leaders from Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia said Friday that the continued presence of Russian military in their countries was destabilizing. The parliamentary speakers from the three countries issued a joint statement at the end of a one-day security conference in Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, voicing their worries about the Russian military presence in the three ex-Soviet republics. They said they were “profoundly concerned about Russian troops” in Moldova, “and Russian occupation and other forms of military intervention” in parts of Georgia and Ukraine. Ukraine has been in a simmering conflict with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 10,000 since April 2014. Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia all signed association agreements with the European Union in 2014, in the face of criticism from Russia.

Source: National Post March 02, 2018 13:58 UTC