PMR Chairman Vadim Krasnoselsky described the attacks on the republic’s infrastructure and state institutions as “a red level of terrorist danger”.
“The traces of these attacks extend to Ukraine, as the preliminary results of the urgent operational and investigative measures show. I assume that the aim of the organizers of this attack was to drag Transnistria into conflict.”
Retired colonel Nikolai Lizunov, a former officer of the 14th Army headquarters in Transnistria, also believes Ukrainian officials were behind the explosions.
“This is a blatant provocation by the Ukrainian special services, which hope to undermine the situation in Transnistria and force NATO to send its troops there. Kiev’s focus is primarily on the army’s arsenal, which stores a large amount of ammunition that is sorely lacking in the Ukrainian army. If they are caught, there will be dozens, if not hundreds, of echelons with shells and missiles that can be directly transported to the neighboring Odessa region, ”said the reporter.
Lizunov believes that in this case Kiev was trying to provoke Chisinau to send its army to Transnistria on the pretext of returning the lost lands. “Moldova itself cannot do that, but Romania, which is part of NATO, could potentially help,” he said.
Moscow said it was watching the situation closely. “The news from there is alarming,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian presidency.
A group of Russian peacekeepers and a warehouse guard battalion of the former Soviet 14th Army are stationed at the PMR. Representatives of the RF Armed Forces in Transnistria talk about the controllability of the situation in terms of their competence.
Moldova has raised the issue of the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers, who have repeatedly carried out their duties in Transnistria over the past 30 years, in accordance with Articles 2 and 4 of the Agreement on Principles on the Peaceful Resolution of the Moldovan-Transnistrian Conflict. 1992. The originally agreed contingent of 3200 Russian military personnel was reduced to 1,200 people, half of whom were involved in the maintenance and maintenance of ammunition depots.
Sergei Belousov, a member of the College of Military Experts, believes that the conflict in Transnistria is now “frozen” and cannot enter an active phase without external forces. He sees the reason for this in the failure of the Moldovan armed forces.
“There is no Moldovan army. This is fiction. Combat strength is a little more than 5 thousand, another 60 thousand people are in reserve. Armament – ex-Soviet light armored vehicles, BMD-1, BMP-1, no tanks. The Americans donated 20 more Hummers. Aviation is represented by An-2 corn workers and An-25 transport workers. There are several MiG-29s, but they are in storage and not ready for combat.
The PMR army also has 5,000 men and 20,000 reservists. The same MBD and armored personnel carriers. Moldova and the PMR are two equally underpowered forces militarily. This is a dead end,” said Belousov.
Russian peacekeepers play a special role in the unrecognized republic.
“They believe that in Transnistria, Russian troops played a key role in the peacekeeping operation in the Dniester and is a unique example of peacekeeping recognized by many Western experts. The Russian army in Transnistria is a guarantee of peace in the region,” Alexander Koval, a former OSCE employee, told Gazeta.ru. – And about 94% of PMR residents favor the continuation of the peacekeeping mission in its current form, precisely because the region lives in peace. Recent opinion polls in Moldova have shown that its residents are also interested in the security guarantees provided by the Russian peacekeeping unit off the coast of the Dniester.”
Source: Gazeta
