Chisinau, Moldova - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday promised Moldova new support totaling $135 million to strengthen the country's energy independence and security.

Blinken said that the US support includes $50 million "to further advance these efforts from reforming the energy and agricultural sectors to pushing back and further against disinformation" during a joint press conference in Chisinau with Moldovan President Maia Sandu.

Blinken said that Moldova, which neighbors Ukraine, has been impacted by Russia's attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

He stated that the US intends to invest an additional $85 million in Moldova's energy security as part of a $300 million aid program announced last year.

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"We've seen through Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine its weaponization of energy – the threat that dependence on Russia for energy poses to national security and economic security," said Blinken at a press conference with Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean.

According to Blinken, who visited Moldova before traveling to the Czech Republic for the NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Prague on Thursday, the funding will also support free and fair elections and improve relations with the West.

It was initially unknown when the total of $135 million would be disbursed or invested.

Moldova's pro-European president Sandu is working to integrate the country into the EU, where it has held candidate status for about two years.

But Russia maintains its influence in the poverty-stricken ex-Soviet republic of around 2.5 million inhabitants, particularly in the breakaway region of Transnistria, where Russian soldiers have been stationed since the 1990s.

During Russia's war against Ukraine, international observers have repeatedly warned that Moscow might use the unrest in the region as a reason to escalate the situation there.