German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is traveling today to Moldova, a former Soviet republic that neighbors Ukraine, a country whose political leadership sees Russia’s invasion of Ukrainian territory as a threat to its very existence.

Mr Solz is scheduled to meet President Maya Sandu and Prime Minister Dorin Recean in the capital Chisinau. The talks will focus on the impact of the war on the economy of the small country of 2.6 million people.

The government of Moldova, which is seeking to become a member state of the European Union, accuses Moscow of waging a campaign of disinformation and destabilization against it.

Russian troops have been stationed in Transnistria, a region controlled by separatists in the eastern part of the country, since the 1990s.

Mr. Scholz had visited Moldova in 2023, as part of an EU summit. Today is the first official bilateral visit by a German chancellor in 12 years.

Germany has offered 41 million euros in financial aid to be allocated to Moldova’s security sector since 2018. According to Berlin, it ranks fifth on the list of supporters of the country, one of the poorest on the European continent.

Like Ukraine, Moldova has officially been named a candidate country for EU membership in 2022.

Moldovans will go to the polls for presidential elections on October 20, when a referendum will also be held on whether EU membership should be enshrined as the country’s goal in its Constitution.