Transnistria on Tuesday announced an attack on a government building in the capital, Tiraspol, but Moldova accused authorities in the pro-Russian breakaway region of “creating pretexts to worsen the security situation” and had already called the Supreme Security Council to convene.
Several explosions were detected in a government building in the center of Tiraspol, according to the press center of the Ministry of the Interior of Transnistria, around 17:00 (15:00 in Lisbon).
In a post on the Telegram platform, the center said that preliminary investigations indicated that the shots were fired from a rocket launcher, and did not cause injuries or deaths.
The reintegration office of the Moldovan government expressed concern about the incident and made a “calm appeal” while confirming that it was investigating the incident.
However, the Cabinet said that the aim of the alleged attack was “to create pretexts for the deterioration of the security situation in the Transnistria region,” according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
Ukraine’s military intelligence services said they had intercepted a document proving that Transnistrian authorities had apparently been preparing a “grenade attack” for at least three days.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Telegram that the incident was part of a “chain of provocative measures” organized by the Russian Federal Security Service “to sow panic and anti-Ukrainian sentiment”.
The deputy commander of the forces of the Russian Central Military District, General Rustam Minkayev, said on Friday that the country wants to control southern Ukraine, as well as the east, not only to create a land corridor from Donbass to Crimea, but also to create an access point to Transnistria.
The presidency said that Moldovan President Maya Sandu has already called a meeting of the Security Council and after the meeting will hold a press conference in which she will talk about the bombings in the government building and on a radio station.
These incidents came after a Russian official last week raised the issue of “persecution” of Russian speakers in Transnistria, in the context of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.
Moldova gained its independence in the early 1990s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, but Russian forces stationed on the fringes of the territory, with less than half a million inhabitants, known as Transnistria, opposed the Moldovan authorities and established a new independent state and proclaimed a de facto republic.
Transnistria is not recognized internationally as a country, but it still exists as a separate entity from Moldova.
It is estimated that about 2,000 Russian soldiers are permanently stationed in Transnistria.
Tiraspol is located only a hundred kilometers from the Ukrainian port of Odessa, which is one of the objectives of the current Kremlin campaign.
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