Moldova

After holding a meeting of Moldova's security council, President Maia Sandu warned that recent explosions in the country's breakaway Transnistria region, ...

An official in breakaway Transnistria blamed Kyiv for the security HQ attack on Monday, called it a “terrorist act” and accused Ukraine of “provoking a spreading of the conflict to Transnistria’s territory”, the BBC reported. She convened the meeting after two blasts damaged Soviet-era radio masts in breakaway Transnistria, Reuters reported. The aim of the attack was “to create pretexts for straining the security situation in the Transnistrian region, which is not controlled by the constitutional authorities”, the government office said.

Ukraine accused Moscow on Tuesday of trying to drag Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria into its war on Kyiv.

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. “The Ukrainians will fight. “I assume that those who organised this attack have the purpose of dragging Transnistria into the conflict.” It provided few details, but blamed Ukraine, raising its “terrorist” threat level to red and introducing checkpoints around its towns. Last week, a senior Russian military official said the second phase of what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine included a plan to take full control of southern Ukraine and improve its access to Transnistria. Ukraine “condemns the desperate attempts to draw the Transnistrian region of Moldova into the full-scale war against Ukraine,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Moldova's president says a series of attacks in the Russia-backed breakaway region of Transdniestria are an attempt by factions within the territory to ...

Later in the day, the Russian foreign ministry said it wanted to avoid a scenario in which it had to intervene in Transdniestria, the RIA news agency reported. Last week, a senior Russian military official said the second phase of what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine included a plan to take full control of southern Ukraine and improve its access to Transdniestria. Moldova's president says a series of attacks in the Russia-backed breakaway region of Transdniestria are an attempt by factions within the territory to increase tensions, and the Kremlin has voiced serious concern.

Trans-Dniester doesn't usually get much attention. But European leaders are watching it closely because it hosts about 1500 Russian troops and shares a ...

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It's unclear who was responsible for the attacks. In response, Moldovan President Maia Sandu convened a security council meeting. Read More.

Today the official goals of the Russian presence in Trans-Dniester are to prevent a return to conflict and protect 22,000 tons of Soviet-era military equipment in the tiny village of Cobasna. “If they changed their position, the EU could suspend the application of the deep and comprehensive free trade agreement with the region, since hypothetically such a corridor with the Russian Federation would ensure effective occupation of the territory.” They want to decrease the insecurity coming from it,” Cenusa said. The announcement came after alleged attacks on two communication towers and on a state building in the self-declared capital, Tiraspol, as well as an incident involving a military unit in the village of Parkany. It’s unclear who was responsible for the attacks. That said, Russia will continue to drive pressure on Moldova,” Vlas said. However, last week, Moldova’s Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spinu said his government was looking into buying electricity from Ukraine when the contract with the Russian-owned company MoldGres expires next month. “I tend to see this as part of the disinformation campaign and information war against Moldova in this case.” Russian disinformation seeps into the country’s Russian-language media, while the country’s socialist party, which has deep ties to Moscow, held the presidency for four years until 2020, when pro-EU candidate Sandu was elected. Speaking to journalists in Washington last week, Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu acknowledged the country’s exposure to the war in Ukraine. “We’re the most fragile neighbor of Ukraine, we’re the country that is most affected by it, and we’re the country that has the fewest resources to deal with the situation and the fallout of the war,” he said. The Trans-Dniestrian military is thought to have around 4,000 active troops. It’s unclear how long the relative quiet in the breakaway region will last. But the remarks have highlighted Moldova’s precarious position.

Ukraine accuses Russia of orchestrating attacks in the Moldovan separatist region of Transnistria, which Latvia's foreign minister says reminds him of ...

Mr Haq said the UN continues to fully support efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to reach a political settlement of the Transnistria conflict. In a statement on Tuesday, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Ukraine "resolutely supports Moldova's territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders and condemns attempts to draw the Transnistria region of Moldova into the full-fledged war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine and call for de-escalating tensions". The Latvian Foreign Minister said he was "very worried" by the explosions on Tuesday, adding it reminded him of what happened in the Donbas region at the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February.

Moldova's president says a series of attacks in the Russia-backed breakaway region of Transdniestria are an attempt by...

One needs to look no further than Vladimir Putin's body language in his recent meeting with defence minister Sergei Shoigu to conclude that Russia's 'special ...

To dismiss it and not to provide Moldova with last-minute military assistance or another tripwire that might increase the costs of a prospective attack to the Russians would be a terrible failure of imagination. Claiming Moldova together with Ukraine’s Bessarabia, right on the border with Romania, makes for a perfect start for future efforts to take Ukraine’s Black Sea Coast. And, unlike the pitiful territorial gains made in Ukraine, typically at the cost of razing urban centres to the ground, a ‘clean’ capture of yet another former Soviet republic might be precisely the kind of symbolic prize that could give him breathing space and security at home. Moldova’s politics, in contrast, have been torn between a Soviet nostalgia, complete with communist symbols and former apparatchiks, and pro-western, reformist forces that have only had success in pushing effective political and economic reforms in recent years.

Warning comes as Moldovan president blames 'pro-war forces' for explosions in separatist-controlled region.

Moldova has repeatedly called on Russia to observe a pledge made at an OSCE summit in 1999 to evacuate both the ammunition depot and the troops that guard it.

"There was a hope that the case will be reviewed and sent for a new investigation. The 40 Russian diplomats expelled three weeks ago "did not spend a day in diplomatic service during their stay in Germany," she said in a statement. "This gathering reflects the galvanized world," Austin said in his opening remarks. During the meeting, Guterres criticized Russia’s military action in Ukraine as a flagrant violation of its neighbor’s territorial integrity. Separately, Transdniester's Security Council reported a "terrorist attack" on a military unit near the city of Tiraspol, without elaborating. “Chisinau continues to insist on a peaceful settlement of the Transdniester conflict.” It added it has the right to pursue damages over breach of contract. It is demanding financial compensation for the damages and wants access to its channel restored. The Bulgarian Energy Ministry said that Bulgarian state-owned supplier Bulgargaz had received a similar notification. The details are to be clarified before the proposal comes up in the National Assembly next week. "This gathering reflects the galvanized world," Austin said in his opening remarks. RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the major developments on Russia's invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, the plight of civilians, and Western reaction.

A series of unexplained explosions have occurred in parts of Transnistria, a breakaway territory within Moldova that has housed Russian troops for decades, ...

"By his actions, the enemy is trying to cut off part of the Odesa region and create tension amid the events" in Transnistria, Marchenko said. "Our analysis shows that there are tensions between forces inside that region interested in destabilizing the situation. Maksym Marchenko, head of the Odesa region military administration, said Russia had used three missiles, one of which had struck the bridge. (Armed Forces of Ukraine) know this and are working on this." That deadlock has left the territory and its estimated 500,000 inhabitants trapped in limbo. The major roads of its capital Tiraspol include Lenin Street, Strada Karl Marx and 25th October Street -- commemorating the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Transnistria has long been powered by its industrial output, and its economy is heavily dependent on Russian subsidies. Where poverty thrives and where human life is worthless." Two radio towers were subsequently damaged on Tuesday morning. Ukraine described the blasts as a planned provocation by Russian security services. Russian state news agency TASS quoted the general as saying the country's aim was to create a land corridor between Ukraine's eastern Donbas region and Crimea, adding that control over Ukraine's south would give Russian forces access to Transnistria -- a strategy that many in Chisinau had long feared was Putin's goal. Russian state news agency TASS quoted the general as saying the country's aim was to create a land corridor between Ukraine's eastern Donbas region and Crimea, adding that control over Ukraine's south would give Russian forces access to Transnistria -- a strategy that many in Chisinau had long feared was Putin's goal.

Military tensions and political concern are heating up in Transnistria, a breakaway state of Moldova that borders Ukraine. An Eastern European expert ...

The fighting in Ukraine prompted Ukraine to reevaluate and tighten its border policy. Russia has long sought to keep Moldova, formerly part of the Soviet Union, in its political sphere of influence. Moldova’s energy sector is one of its greatest vulnerabilities. If activated, combat-ready Russian troops in Transnistria could quickly destabilize the region. It is an unrecognized breakaway state that left Moldova after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. The presence of Russian troops in Transnistria prevents Moldova from fully controlling its own borders. These soldiers have homes and families in Transnistria. The Ukraine war and the presence of Russian troops in Transnistria has made Moldovans and some international experts worried that Russia could attack Moldova next. Moldova signed a free-trade deal with the European Union in 2014, also allowing trade to be conducted from Transnistria. Transnistria’s trade with western Europe has since continued to grow, as its trade with Russia declines. Moldova is located between the European Union, bordering Romania and southwestern Ukraine. Russian troops stationed in Transnistria give Moscow a way to intimidate Moldova and limit its Western aspirations. Transnistria – officially called the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic – is a narrow strip of land between Moldova and western Ukraine that is home to about 500,000 people. Ukraine has alleged that the explosions were set off by Russia as a pretext for Russian troops advancing to Transnistria, and using it as a military platform for further operations in Ukraine, more than two months after it first launched a war there.

Fears that the tiny former Soviet republic of Moldova could be sucked into the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine are mounting after several explosions in the ...

After a meeting of her security council this week, Sandu said certain unnamed “forces inside Transnistria” were in “favour of war” and were interested in destabilising the situation in the region. In 1992, the separatists fought a war with Moldova’s pro-western government, which ended in hundreds of deaths and the intervention of the Russian army on the rebels’ side. The mysterious blasts, which targeted the state security ministry, a radio tower and military unit, happened days after a senior Russian commander claimed Russian speakers in Moldova were being oppressed – the same argument used by Russia to justify its invasion of Ukraine.

A string of unexplained explosions in Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria has raised fears that President Vladimir Putin could have plans for his war ...

Authorities in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, have banned the use of symbols used by the Russian army, seeing them as provocation. Russia supports a string of separatist regions in former Soviet republics, using them as leverage over pro-Western governments in what it considers to be its sphere of influence. Moldova counts on foreign support and assistance to “manage the refugee crisis and the economic consequences for citizens,” according to Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita. In 1992 Transnistria fought a war with Moldova, which had declared its own sovereignty the year before. Moldova, including Transnistria, used to be a republic in the Soviet Union. Even before the USSR collapsed in 1991, Transnistria wanted to remain part of the dying confederation as its own republic, so it declared independence from Moldova in 1990 -- a move that wasn’t recognized by the USSR at the time. The mainly Russian-speaking enclave is home to fewer than 500,000 people; the rest of Moldova has some 2.6 million.