The government of Moldova expresses concern that this is a pretext and that Russia wants to create more instability. It is feared that Moscow is using the incidents as legitimacy for a military operation against the Eastern European country. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, fears of such a scenario have big in Moldova.
dormant conflict
In Russian media, the recent events in Transnistria have been called a provocation by a member of parliament. Leonid Kalashnikov heads the commission for relations with former Soviet countries, such as Moldova.
“What is happening in Transnistria is a provocation designed to involve Russia in a wider military operation in the region,” he is quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
A senior Russian officer recently said publicly that Russia should control all of southern Ukraine. That would also provide an opportunity to make contact with Transnistria, where, he says, the rights of Russians are being violated.
Incidentally, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister has stated precisely that Russia wants a peaceful solution to the Transnistria issue. A simmering conflict between Moldova and Russia has been going on about this for thirty years.
Hammer and sickle
“It’s like coming to the Soviet Union during the Cold War”, says Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Speech makers on NPO Radio 1. The former NATO Secretary General has been to Transnistria. The country’s flag still bears the communist hammer and sickle.
Transnistria unilaterally declared its independence in 1990 and swore allegiance to Moscow, while the Soviet Union was falling apart. Two years later, a civil war raged over the border region. Moldovan soldiers fought separatists and Russian mercenaries. A ceasefire was signed in 1992, but the conflict has never officially ended.
Since then, about 1500 to 2000 Russian soldiers have been stationed in Transnistria. The Kremlin sees that as a peacekeeping force, the Moldovan authorities speak of an occupying force. Only a few countries recognize the region’s independence.
‘On Putin’s shopping list’
Moldova, to which Transnistria still officially belongs, is one of the poorest countries in Europe. “It is very vulnerable and is ultimately on Putin’s ‘shopping list’ when he talks about influence in what he calls his near foreign country,” says De Hoop Scheffer.
Last month Nieuwsuur made this report about the increasing concerns in Moldova:
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