​MOLDOVAN PEACEKEEPING CONTINGENT STARTS FUNCTIONING IN KOSOVO

The Moldovan peacekeeping contingent, constituting a part of the international force mission in Kosovo (KFOR), has started carrying out its direct regular duties after one month of training.

During that period, the 33 Moldovan infantrymen and 7 combat engineers, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Roman Ceban, were trained at Camp Villaggio Italia base, practicing interaction with contingents from Italy, Slovenia, and Austria.

On Wednesday, the Moldovan peacekeepers and their Italian colleagues began combat patrolling of objects in the zone of responsibility of the tripartite contingent.

Infotag’s dossier: The Moldovan Parliament approved the RM contingent’s participation in the peacekeeper operation on Kosovo at the end of 2013. The annual cost of the operation will be some 34 million lei. A greater part of this sum will be covered by Italy, so only one-third of the expenditures will be on the Moldovan State Budget. The Moldovan contingent is based in northern Metohija province in Italy’s zone of responsibility.

In 2003-2008, Moldova participated in the international post-conflict operation in Iraq, having delegated several contingents, mostly of military engineers, there. All in all, the Moldovan field engineers neutralized nearly 400 thousand mines, shells and other explosives. During the 5 years of the dangerous works, only one Moldovan sapper was wounded.