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Moldovans have voted by a razor-thin majority in favour of joining the European Union, nearly final results showed on Monday after a pivotal referendum clouded by allegations of Russian interference. On Sunday, Moldova held key votes in a presidential election and a referendum on EU membership, marking a critical moment in the continuing struggle between Russia and the west for control over the small, landlocked nation in eastern Europe, home to 2.5 million people. After nearly 99.5% of votes were counted in the referendum that asked voters to choose whether to enshrine in the country’s constitution a path toward the...

More and more people, including Pope Francis, are asking Ukraine to drop its defense and sit at the negotiation table with Russia. Citing the stalemate on the battlefield and Russia’s superior resources, they urge Ukraine’s leadership to consider a deal. What exactly that would involve is largely left unsaid. But it would clearly involve freezing the conflict, resigning Ukraine’s occupied territory to Russia in exchange for an end to the fighting. My country, Moldova, knows all about that kind of bargain. A small western neighbor of Ukraine, Moldova experienced Russia’s first post-Soviet war of aggression, which ended with a cease-fire...

A drone strike at a military installation in Moldova’s breakaway republic of Transnistria on Sunday destroyed a helicopter and ignited a fire, authorities in the pro-Russia region said. The area’s pro-Russian officials blamed the strike on Ukraine. Moldova’s Bureau for Reintegration Policies said in a statement that, after examining video footage of the incident, they “do not confirm any attack” on Transnistria and called it “aan attempt to cause fear and panic in the region.”

Officials in Moldova’s Russia-backed breakaway region of Transnistria appealed to Moscow for protection Wednesday, as tensions escalate with the pro-Western government. ... On Wednesday, members of the Transnistrian congress used a rare meeting in the regional capital, Tiraspol, to ask the Russian Duma to “implement measures for defending Transnistria amid increasing pressure from Moldova, given the fact that more than 220,000 Russian citizens reside in Transnistria." A short war in the early 1990s led pro-Russian forces in Transnistria to declare a breakaway state. To this day, Russia stations about 1,500 troops in the region as so-called peacekeepers, who guard huge...

Putin is reportedly on the brink of a new land grab to defy the West by possibly announcing soon that Russia is taking control of a breakaway Moldovan region. There is speculation that unofficial state Transnistria is poised to make an appeal to Putin to join Russia. The landlocked strip along the Dniester River is wedged between Moldova and Ukraine. Putin already has a 'peacekeeping' force of up to 2,000 troops in the territory which Russia says overwhelmingly wishes to be incorporated by Moscow. There are also likely thousands of Russian paramilitaries on the ground. A fear is Putin will...

Lavrov said on Thursday that Moldova, an Eastern European country and former Soviet republic, is putting itself in harm's way in its desire to join the European Union. In June 2022, the EU and its member states offered unwavering support for Moldova and granted it candidate status. The support was reaffirmed in March of this year, with the EU and its members promising to continue to provide security and economic support to Moldova as it awaits its path to accession... On Thursday, the Moldova Foreign Ministry issued a rebuke to Lavrov's comments, calling Russia's invasion of Ukraine "brutal" and saying...

U.S. intelligence officials have determined that people with ties to Russian intelligence are planning to stage protests in hopes of toppling the Moldovan government, according to the White House. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the intelligence shows that actors, some connected with Russian intelligence, are seeking to stage and use protests in Moldova as a basis to foment an insurrection against Moldova’s new pro-Western government. Kirby said the intelligence shows that another set of Russian actors would provide training and help manufacture demonstrations in Moldova, which was granted European Union candidate status in June, on the...

The United States accused Russia on Friday of seeking to destabilize Moldova and said it would help the Eastern European country fight off such attempts by sharing information and providing other assistance, the White House said. The United States agrees with Moldovan President Maia Sandu's view that there is no imminent military threat from Russia but shares her concern that Moscow is trying to destabilize her country to install a more pro-Russian government, John Kirby, the White House's national security spokesperson, said in a briefing. "As Moldova continues to integrate with Europe, we believe Russia is pursuing options to weaken...

On the border of the Odessa region and the Dnieper Moldavian Republic (PMR), the situation is still tense. Ukrainian formations were deployed along the territory with the PMR and set up tent camps for units. ▪️From the environs of Odessa and the Nikolaev region, additional personnel of an unidentified unit were transferred. Now at least one battalion with armored vehicles is located 40 kilometers from Kolbasnoye . ▪️For the first time in recent months, a satellite constellation of NATO countries has filmed objects of the Russian army in Dubossary , Krasnaya Gorka and Vladimirovka in Transnistria. Eight photographs were taken,...

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis discussed energy, economic and security issues in Bucharest Thursday with his visiting Moldovan counterpart, as the two neighbors seek to boost ties amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. Iohannis' office said the talks with Moldovan President Maia Sandu would aim to bring her country closer to the 27-nation European Union, to which Romania belongs. Afterwards, Sandu said Moldova’s strategic partnership with NATO-member Romania is yielding "concrete benefits." (snip) Sandu’s visit came a week after she claimed Moscow was allegedly plotting to overthrow Moldova’s government, put the nation "at the disposal of Russia," and derail its aspirations to...

The authorities of Moldova have been ready to sabotage the runway of Chisinau International Airport since the first days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The plan, meant to curb a potential invasion of Moldova by Russia, was revealed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicu Popescu to the local channel Jurnal TV. -snip- Among the feared scenario, Moldova’s government worried that Chisinau International Airport could be taken over by Russian forces and used as a bridgehead to launch an invasion of both Moldova and Ukraine. A similar tactic was attempted during Russia’s initial offensive on Ukraine, with...

Moldova dismissed an accusation by Russia's defence ministry on Thursday that Ukraine planned to invade the breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestria after staging a false flag operation, and called for calm. The defence ministry said the purported plan by Ukraine - which borders Moldova - posed "a direct threat" to Russian troops in the Russian-speaking region. "The armed forces of the Russian Federation will adequately respond to the impending provocation of the Ukrainian side," it said in a statement. It added that Ukraine planned to stage an attack by purported Russian forces from Transdniestria as a pretext for the invasion.

-Moldovan government resigns, economy in turmoil. -Tensions with Russia fuelled by war in Ukraine. -President to hold consultations on next prime minister.CHISINAU, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Moldova's pro-Western government resigned on Friday after a turbulent 18 months in power marked by economic turmoil and the spillover effects of Russia's war in neighbouring Ukraine. In the latest tensions with Moscow over the war, the government said shortly before Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita announced her resignation that a Russian missile had violated Moldovan airspace, and summoned Russia's ambassador to protest. President Maia Sandu accepted Gavrilita's decision and said she would consult with...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov referred to Moldova as “the next Ukraine" in a criticism of the Black Sea state that stokes Moldovan anxiety about the prospect of an attack from Russia. "We categorically reject the statement by the head of Russian diplomacy, which does not correspond to reality, and is part of the already well-known threatening rhetoric of Russian diplomacy,” the Moldovan Foreign Ministry said Thursday. Lavrov drew the analogy as Moscow renews its attempt to characterize its invasion of Ukraine as a defensive struggle against fascist ideology. Russia has maintained a military presence in Moldova over the objections...

We have seen an increase in calls for a negotiated solution of the war in Ukraine. From the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, from progressive members of Congress and from leading international relations scholars, a growing number of voices urge the United States to invest in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and to give peace a chance. According to some reports, the Biden administration is also warming up to the thought.It’s a dangerous idea.Fears of nuclear escalation between Russia and NATO drive many to argue for negotiations, and although the impetus is well-intentioned, the suggestion is naive and impractical. In...

Five examples when the Ukrainian warriors proved there is nothing impossible for Ukraine Since the first days of the russian full-scale invasion, Ukrainian defense forces have not only been deterring russian offense against multiply overwhelming force, but also doing it the way that writes the modern history of warfare. Defense Express has gathered five examples of when the Ukrainians made what'd been seen impossible. *Read more: [The russians Brought the Most Powerful Artillery Systems to Bakhmut, But They May Run out of Ammunition- https://en.defence-ua.com/analysis/the_russians_brought_the_most_powerful_artillery_systems_to_bakhmut_but_they_may_run_out_of_ammunition-5115.html] The Terms of Mastering New Weapons Nowadays it is taken for granted: the allies give some...

NATO's head said earlier this month that Russia may want the fighting to slow, seeking a "freeze" in the fighting so it can better prepare for a bigger assault next year. "What we see now is Russia is actually trying to have some kind of 'freeze' of this war at least for a short period of time so they can regroup, repair, recover," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. "And then try to launch a bigger offensive next spring." The UK Ministry of Defence predicted on Monday that Russian forces will not see any big gains over the winter, even...

At the peak of his power, Russian President Vladimir Putin thought he could use his energy weapon to impose his will across Europe. Now Moldova — with a population of only 2.5 million — is emerging as the last truly vulnerable energy target in his flailing campaign to destabilize governments in the neighborhood taking a pro-EU trajectory. But no matter how hard Putin tries to turn the energy screws to topple the administration, Moldova’s government is doggedly resisting. Only last week Russian missile strikes triggered blackouts in half the country and last month Gazprom slashed gas supplies by a third,...

A Russian military convoy that was outside of Ivankiv, Ukraine, on Sunday has since made it to the outskirts of Kyiv, satellite images show.On Sunday, the convoy was roughly 40 miles northwest of the Ukrainian capital, according to images provided by Maxar Technologies.Maxar said that roughly 17 miles of roadway is chocked full of the convoy, which consists of armored vehicles, tanks, towed artillery and other logistical vehicles. The private US company said the convoy was located on the T-1011 highway at Antonov air base around 11:11 a.m local time.Antonov is roughly 17 miles from the center of the Ukrainian...

From what I have read, a truck filled with explosives blew up, killing three people in a car nearby, and then the flames took over a train also crossing the bridge. That train was full of fuel. It is only thanks to the amazing speed at which the bridge crews reacted that the damage was limited to only 9 wagons and, therefore, to a much shorter segment of the rail tracks.Looking at the video, one would imagine that the bridge is in ruins. In fact, traffic was reestablished on both rail tracks and the road in less than 24 hours...