Russia accuses Ukraine of trying to provoke Moldova into "military actions" in Transnistria
SUNDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2022, 12:25
Aleksey Polishchuk, the Director of the Second Department of the CIS countries of Russia’s Foreign Ministry, has said that the Ukrainian authorities are trying to "provoke Moldova to use force in Transnistria."
Source: European Pravda, citing Polishchuk’s interview with the Russian state-owned news outlet TASS.
Quote by Polishchuk: "In April-June, a series of terrorist acts were committed in Transnistria, the traces of which, as they say in Tiraspol, lead to Ukraine. At the same time, Kyiv promotes the idea of a threat that allegedly comes from Russian military personnel serving on the left bank of the Dniester [river]. The goal is obvious, to try to provoke the Moldovan authorities into forceful actions".
The representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry added that "external forces, primarily Kyiv, are trying to "shake up the situation in the region", but "in Chisinau, they understand the consequences of defreezing the conflict on the Dniester and do not engage in such provocations".
Polishchuk also stated that Moldova had not met Russia's proposals "to start substantive negotiations on the parameters of a comprehensive settlement on the Dniester".
Moldova officially considers the Russian troops, which have been stationed in Transnistria after the brief hostilities of 1992, to be occupying forces; Chisinau demands that Moscow withdraw them. Russia refuses to do so, claiming such is the wish of the people of non-recognised Transnistria, the breakaway state that proclaimed independence from Moldova in 1990 and went on as Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.
Previously, the President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, expressed the opinion that in the event of Ukraine's victory in a full-scale war unleashed by Russia, conditions could arise for the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict.
At the same time, according to Moldovan Parliament member Oazu Nantoi, a representative of the pro-presidential PAS party, the Kremlin could potentially order a Russian group in unrecognised Transnistria to "stab in the back" of Ukraine, but Transnistria itself is not at all interested in joining the war.
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