Transdnestr Could Host Russian Military Base

Space Daily ^ | 2/23/2010 | Ilya Kramnik

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Transdnestr leader Igor Smirnov said in Moscow on Monday that the breakaway republic in Moldova was not opposed to Russia deploying its Iskander tactical missiles in the republic. "We said long ago that we are ready [for this]; we have asked Russia to keep its military presence indefinitely. We would not protest the deployment of Russian forces with any weapons for the protection of the Transdnestr, Russian and Ukrainian people," Smirnov said when answering journalists' questions about Transdnestr's readiness to host Russian ballistic missile defense systems.

What could be the objective of a Russian base in the republic, should it be deployed there?

The desire of Transdnestr to host a Russian military base is understandable, as Russia's influence reinforced with a group of forces is one of the main guarantees of the republic's potential sovereignty and independence. A stronger Russian military presence would be an additional factor.

Currently, Russia has approximately 1,500 troops armed with light weapons and hardware in Transdnestr protecting the weapons warehouses of the former 14th General Purpose Army of the former Soviet Union.

Russia has no need for such systems there because it has no potential enemies armed with medium-range ballistic missiles in the south-western direction. It would be more logical to deploy weapons there that would be able to neutralize the U.S. ballistic missile defense systems.

However, if Russia takes such a decision, it will most likely deploy the missiles in the Kaliningrad Region, which borders on Poland, because a ballistic missile defense base in Poland, if equipped with more powerful missiles than the SM-3 currently planned for deployment there, would be able to intercept Russian ICBMs