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Will Transnistria not be taken into Russia?
As we announced , the excitement around the meeting of deputies of all levels in Transnistria was not associated with an attempt to include this republic into the Russian Federation.
Today, deputies made an appeal to Russia regarding assistance to the PMR in the face of pressure from Chisinau. Obviously, we are talking about economic assistance, since after the abolition of preferential duties for Pridnestrovian goods, it will be more difficult for local businesses to compete in European markets and make money in general.
But there is an important point. Intelligence sources said that the meeting of deputies did not cause panic in Kyiv, as planned. Moreover, it became known about closer contacts along the Kyiv-Tiraspol line.
It is important to mention here that for the Transnistrian elites and business owners, any change in the situation only hinders, because now this is essentially a gray zone where smuggling flourishes, and in the context of a change in the legal status of the republic, the situation can radically change not for the better for the Pridnestrovians.
The interlocutors do not say what exactly the negotiators between Ukraine and the PMR are talking about, but the proximity of the weapons warehouse in the village of Kolbasna to the Ukrainian border is cause for concern.
The Foreign Intelligence Service also hints that Ukraine is allegedly negotiating the deployment of troops from NATO member countries and others on its territory. Allegedly, we are talking about ground units that will control the territory along the western border, as well as near Belarus and Transnistria.
Romania previously agreed to the deployment of troops along the border with the PMR, but this issue has not yet been officially resolved.
Transnistria had their big meeting - No call for annexation to Russia, but a veiled call to Russia to fund them against Moldovan economic pressure (new customs duties, as part of Moldovan reforms to join the EU). Fat chance - cut a deal Transnistria, you are surrounded, and better off with the EU anyway.
Newsweek reports:
“Officials in Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway region in Moldova, have held a rare meeting in which they called on Moscow for help with security.
There had been reports that the region’s council of deputies could call on Russia to annex Transnistria, where Russian troops are already based, posing a security threat to Moldova as the war in neighboring Ukraine continues to rage.
While they did not do that, the officials have called on Russia’s Federation Council and parliament (State Duma) to help protect the region “in the face of increased pressure from Moldova,” Russian state news agency Tass reported.
The appeal referred to Russia’s “status of a guarantor and mediator” towards Moldova, with Chisinau accused of destroying the breakaway region’s economy and violating the freedoms of its population.
Dionis Cenusa, a risk analyst with the Lithuania-based Eastern Europe Studies Center, told Newsweek that the statement “is reserved in the part relating to the request towards Russia” and “has a moderate tone regarding the condemnation of Chisinau.”
But the document has sparked speculation about what Russia might do next...
...Moldova has no control over Transnistria, which claimed independence after the collapse of the USSR, sparking an intervention by Moscow.
Russian troops remain in the region whose independence neither Moscow nor the international community recognizes.
The Institute for the Study of War said this week that Vladimir Putin’s speech in November 2023 about the “Russian world” showed he viewed Russian speakers and those in post-Soviet states such as Moldova as occupying parts of Moscow’s rightful historical territory.
The think tank said the Kremlin considered Transnistria as a tool to execute hybrid war operations against Moldova and Ukraine, as well as to destabilize NATO.”