The leader of Moldova’s pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria, Vadim Krasnoselski, called on its defense and intelligence institutions to maintain a “high level of military readiness” and conduct regular exercises to that end, Reuters reports.
Transnistria broke away before the collapse of the USSR in 1991 and fought a brief war against the newly independent state of Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, located between Ukraine and Romania.
For more than three decades, the conflict on the narrow strip of land has remained frozen – 2,000 Russian “peacekeepers” remain on the line separating them. In essence, however, these are local residents with Russian passports.
But tensions have been rising since Moldova’s government imposed tariffs in the New Year on imports and exports as part of its bid to join the European Union. The region, dependent on Moscow’s aid, says the tariffs hurt its business, and Krasnoselski condemned them as a “medieval levy”.
“The Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Defense are instructed to regularly conduct exercises and increase the security of state borders through modern technical means,” the president of unrecognized Transnistria, Vadim Krasnoselsky, said in a broadcast address.
Key institutions were told to be “increasingly proactive” in countering military threats and terrorist and extremist activities.
“This is for today, right now,” Krasnoselski said. “And it is not only about the Ministry of Defense, but also about the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the state security authorities.
Moldova’s Reintegration Bureau, the body overseeing negotiations with Transnistria, said Krasnoselski’s comments were confusing.
“The basis for the Tiraspol alarms is unclear,” the statement said, referring to the region’s main city. “The impression is that these signals exist strictly in a virtual environment.”
Moldova’s pro-EU president, Maya Sandu, has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and claimed that Moscow planned to remove her, while Moscow accused her of instilling an atmosphere of Russophobia in the country.
Transnistria, in turn, claims that Ukraine planned the assassination of its leaders and accuses Moldova of training Ukrainian fighters.
A senior Moldovan official said last week that the latest round of already rare talks with Transnistria, focused on new tariffs, had proved “difficult”.
A rally against the new tariffs will be held in Tiraspol this week. Small protests took place along the “border” separating the two countries.
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2024-01-23 11:13:00
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