Transnistria is a 249-mile strip of land on the border with Ukraine. It has a population of about 470,000 and is internationally recognized as part of Moldova, but has been under separatist control since 1992. Authorities in Ukraine and Moldova have warned that recent explosions in the breakaway region of Transnistria were part of Russia’s alleged plan to destabilize Moldova’s pro-Western, pro-Western government led by President Maia Sandu. Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a meeting of the Russian parliament’s advisory council in St. Petersburg on April 27, 2022. Forces in the breakaway region of Transnistria Moldova are preparing an “appeal” to Putin, Ukraine says. Alexey Danichev / Getty Images In addition, Western officials and defense analysts said that Transnistria could mobilize the people for the war against Ukraine. Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Nicu Popescu said earlier this week that a majority of Moldovans, including those in Transnistria, wanted to stay out of the war, but recent attacks were raising tensions, according to a Guardian report. On Sunday, the Main Information Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine published – on its Facebook page and on its website – an image of a Transnistrian newspaper, dated May 2, 2022, which seems to indicate other attacks that have not yet taken place. . The newspaper’s validity has been called into question and Newsweek has not been able to independently verify whether it is legal. The New Voice of Ukraine reported that the Ukrainian newspaper Segodnya, said the editor-in-chief of the Transnistrian real newspaper, Alexander Karasyov, called the image on the front page “fake.” The Main Information Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which did not specify how it found this paper, seemed to suggest that the paper shown in the picture could be considered as a warning that attacks with false flags in the breakaway region would serve as an excuse for local forces to join Russia in the war against Ukraine. “Call on Putin and ‘terrorist attacks of the future’ – Russia prepares for ‘Transnistrian region’ challenges for May holidays,” Ukrainian authorities said in a statement, citing the alleged document, according to a Google translation. There are three national holidays mentioned in early May in Moldova — May 1, 2 and 9. The Facebook post said Russia was planning to attack Transnistria and blame the West and Ukraine. “As the newspaper was released on the eve of the holidays, there is a risk that the Kremlin authorities will plan to carry out a series of acts of intimidation among the local population,” the post said, according to a Google translation. “In this way the Kremlin is trying to legitimize thousands of its soldiers who will carry out provocations from the territory of the Transnistrian region,” he said. Transnistria is home to about 1,500 Russian troops, according to the Wall Street Journal. Transnistria’s attacks earlier this week saw the local government blame Ukraine for what Kyiv rejected as falsely organized by Russia, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The first blasts were reported on Monday, April 25, when several blasts hit the Ministry of State Security in Tiraspol, the largest city and capital of Moldova’s autonomous region. According to local officials, the attack was carried out using rockets. Authorities did not name the source of the attack. Other explosions followed the day after the incident in Tiraspol. According to local police quoted by the Associated Press, a radio station in the Transnistrian city of Maiac, 7 miles west of the Ukrainian border, was hit by two explosions on Tuesday, which destroyed two broadcast antennas. Again, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack and its source has not been identified. Following the attacks, Moldova said Tuesday it was putting its security forces on high alert. The Deputy Prime Minister of Moldova said that there is tension building and there seems to be an attempt to destabilize. “Our analysis so far shows that there are tensions between different forces in the region that are interested in destabilizing the situation,” he said. “This makes the Transnistrian region vulnerable and poses a threat to the Republic of Moldova.” Newsweek contacted the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for comments.
