Moldova breakaway region to unify with Russia?
President Vladimir Putin may heed Transnistria’s request to be annexed by Russia
Pro-Russian rebels in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria reportedly plan to use Wednesday’s congress to ask Russia to annex the thin slither of land populated by 465,000 predominantly Russian-speaking residents.
The separatist region’s Supreme Council said deputies would discuss Transnistria’s “political and socio-economic situation” amid what they said was “pressure” from Moldova, with local opposition politician Gennady Chorba saying it was “most likely” deputies would ask to join Russia.
Under control by pro-Russian forces since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Transnistria is internationally recognized as part of Moldova. The Kremlin has around 1,500 soldiers permanently stationed in the region on what it has called a “peacekeeping” mission.
In 2006, a referendum resulted in an overwhelming majority vote in favor of integrating with Russia.
Since Moscow began its full-scale assault on Ukraine, Moldova has worried that the Kremlin could use Transnistria to open a new front in the southwest, in the direction of Odessa.
Last week, the Russian defense ministry alleged that Ukraine planned an armed incursion into the breakaway territory, without providing any evidence.
In 1992, separatists fought a war with Moldova’s pro-Western government that resulted in hundreds of deaths and the intervention of the Russian army on the rebel side.
Russia still props up Transnistria’s economy with supplies of free gas, but the region has found itself increasingly isolated from Moscow since the conflict in Ukraine.
Moldova has worried that the Kremlin could use Transnistria to open a new front in the southwest, in the direction of Odessa.
A report of “Wars in the World” website says Chorba has said the rebel government will submit its request Putin to annex their region.
His statement came a few days after Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said the rights of pro-Russian separatists in Transnistria must be respected.
On the website Visit Ukraine Today, a posted article titled “What is happening in Transnistria and will the region go to war against Ukraine?” quotes Oleksandr Kovalenko, a military and political observer of the Information Resistance group, as saying that it will be suicide for the only 1,300 Russian troops there to launch an attack on Ukraine.