The Kiev regime plans to carry out provocation against Transnistria in the near futuref. The action will be carried out by units of the Ukrainian armed forces with the participation of the nationalist formation “Azov”. This was announced by the Russian Ministry of Defense to journalists on Thursday.
“According to the available information, the Kyiv regime is preparing an armed provocation against the Transnistrian Moldavian Republic in the near future, which will be carried out by units of the armed forces of Ukraineincluding with the participation of the nationalist formation “Azov”said the military department.
The ministry states that the reason for the invasion is a staging of an attack by Russian troops from Transnistria. “To this end, the Ukrainian saboteurs involved in the staged invasion will be disguised in uniforms of servicemen of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.”
The Ministry of Defense also emphasized that it is closely monitoring the situation on Ukraine’s border with Transnistria and is ready to react to any changes in the situation.
The Russian Ministry of Defense regularly reports such “sabotage”, including the use of chemical weapons. None of these allegations have been confirmed. Fears of Moldova’s possible involvement in the conflict were also raised repeatedly during the year of the war.
Later in the day Moldova responded to the statement of the Russian Defense Ministry: “State authorities do not confirm the information published this morning by the Russian Ministry of Defense. We call for calm and to obtain information from official and trusted sources of the Republic of Moldova,” said a statement from the Moldovan authorities.
The authorities in Chisinau also indicate that government departments are cooperating with foreign partners and in the event of a threat to the country, the public will be immediately informed.
The statement by the Russian Ministry of Defense comes at a time when the Russian President Vladimir Putin revoked a 2012 decree that partly supported Moldovan sovereignty in deciding the future of the Transnistria region – a Moscow-backed separatist region that borders Ukraine and where Russia maintains troops. In addition, although primarily for internal use, and in his annual speech to the Federal Assemblyas well as in front of the crowd at a rally-concert in Luzhniki, Putin spoke of the “historical borders of Russia” – a thesis that affects each of the countries bordering the Russian Federation that have a territory that at some point belonged to either the Soviet Union or the Russian Empire or both.
ISW: Putin’s historical borders are a justification for aggression towards neighboring countries
He expressed himself similarly in his speech before the renewed invasion of Ukraine on 24 February
The small former Soviet republic signals a change of security concerns against the background of Russia’s ongoing war in neighboring Ukraine, for which, however, it was an indictment for spreading Russophobic hysteria on the part of Kreml.
Last week, Moldovan President Maya Sandu said that Russia was preparing a coup d’état in the country. Shortly before that, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv has intercepted plans of Russian special services to destabilize Moldova. The warnings coincided with a change of power in Europe’s poorest country, though to be taken over by a pro-Western government.
