Moldova needs $275 million to modernise armed forces -defence official

Servicemen take part in a ceremony to handover the first batch of Piranha armored personnel carriers from Germany for the Moldovan army, in Chisinau, Moldova January 12, 2023. REUTERS/Vladislav Culiomza

CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova needs 250 million euros ($275 million) to modernise its armed forces following Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine last year, a senior defence official in the pro-Western country said on Wednesday.

"The starting point for a change in public opinion towards the development of the defence sector was naturally the shock of February 2022," Valeriu Mija, Secretary of State for Defence Policy and National Army Reform in the defence ministry, told a forum on national security in the capital, Chisinau.