NATO's deputy chief vowed Monday to strengthen the alliance's partnership with Moldova during a visit in the former Soviet country that could inflame tensions with Moscow.

NATO's deputy secretary general Alexander Vershbow wrote on Twitter the alliance is "committed to enhance partnership (with) Moldova in full respect of its neutrality, supporting its independence, integrity and sovereignty."

Russia's deputy prime minister said Sunday he had managed to bring to Moscow boxes of petitions asking Russia to recognize Moldova's breakaway Transdniestr region despite an attempt by authorities in Chisinau to confiscate them.

Transdniestr, which borders Ukraine and is mainly Russian-speaking, declared independence from Moldova in 1990 and has Russian troops stationed there but is not recognized by any country.

Moldova's pro-Russian breakaway region of Transdniestr on Wednesday called on Russia and the international community to recognize its independence, as fears grew that it could become a new flashpoint in East-West tensions.

The leader of Transdniestr, in an interview with Agence France Presse, called on the EU to recognize the Russian-speaking statelet as independent, saying it was vital to ensuring stability in the region following rising tensions in Ukraine.

The leader of Moldova's pro-Moscow breakaway region on Monday urged the country's politicians to start discussions that would allow Transdniestr to formally join Russia.

"Our dream is a prosperous independent Trasndniestr together with Russia," Yevgeny Shevchuk said in a state of the nation address.

The United States is giving ex-Soviet Moldova $10 million to strengthen security on its border with Ukraine, Washington's top diplomat in Europe Victoria Nuland said Sunday.

Part of Moldova's eastern border with Ukraine is occupied by the breakaway Russian-speaking region of Transdniestr.

Moldova's pro-Moscow breakaway region of Transdniestr said on Tuesday it had shot down a drone that it said appeared to have come from Ukraine to conduct a reconnaissance mission.

"As a result of measures undertaken by the Transdniestr side the drone has ceased to function," the security service said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry took another swipe at Russia on Monday, saying that Moscow "has put pressure on Moldova," as he backed the former Soviet state in seeking closer ties with the West.

Kerry, who has lambasted Russia over its military actions in Ukraine, another former Soviet state and neighbor, was speaking after meeting in Washington Moldovan Prime Minister Lurie Leanca, who is seeking closer ties with the European Union.

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia has sent troops into several neighboring states that it considers as its sphere of influence, including a brief 2008 war with Georgia and an ongoing deployment in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestr.

Russia views these military actions as peacekeeping operations.

The EU's executive gave its green light Friday to visa-free travel for Moldova's 3.5 million people but said Ukraine and Georgia needed to make more progress before lifting their visa requirements.

The European Commission said in a statement that it would consider immediately after a summit in Vilnius at the end of November "presenting a legislative proposal to lift visa requirements for Moldovan citizens holding a biometric passport."

A video of surgery conducted on a teenager with a power drill by doctors who claimed their state-run hospital could not afford the medical equivalent has caused an outcry in the former Soviet republic of Moldova.

Nikolai Kurka, the surgeon who performed the surgery later posted on the Internet and broadcast on Moldovan television, said he was one of 16 doctors who used home improvement tools in the absence of adequate equipment.