BRUSSELS – A series of explosions on Monday and Tuesday rocked Transnistria, a small breakaway region in Moldova and bordering Ukraine, raising fears that the fighting next door could spill over into neighboring countries. neighbors and flare up into a broader conflict.
On Tuesday, it remained unclear who was behind the attacks in Transnistria, a Republic that claims to be allied with – and heavily dependent on – Russia. Local authorities there have blamed Ukraine, while Ukraine accused Russia of staging the explosions as a pretext for further aggression.
Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday that Russian troops stationed in Transnistria had been put on high alert. Some Ukrainians have expressed concern that with Russia already invading their country from the east, south and north, they could add a new front from Transnistria, attacking from the west.
Moldova, a former Soviet republic, said the explosions were still under investigation, although an Interior Ministry official said some early evidence suggested Russian involvement.
When the Soviet Union broke up in the early 1990s, heavily armed separatists in Transnistria, home to a large Russian-speaking population, fought to secede from Moldova. With Russian backing, they effectively achieved independence, but Transnistria is not officially recognized internationally.
There are at least 12,000 Russian troops stationed in Transnistria, within 25 miles of Odesa, Ukraine’s main port and third largest city. Odesa is likely a prime target in Moscow’s stalled effort to capture Ukraine’s Black Sea coast.
Last week, a Russian general said Russia intends to take control of a swath of land not only extending to Crimea, the peninsula it seized from Ukraine in 2014, but as far as Transnistria. But it is unclear whether his statement reflects Kremlin policy.
Moldova Deputy Interior Minister Sergiu Diaconu said the attacks in Transnistria were carried out against empty or unused buildings during the holiday and there were no casualties. He said the explosions appeared to be an attempt to destabilize the country and possibly an excuse for Russia to respond militarily, rather than an act of serious harm.
In addition, Mr. Diaconu said that the grenades used were Russian-made and were used only by the Russian, Transnistrian and Gabonese militaries. He said of the attackers, “I don’t think these are Gabonese.”
However, the Moldovan authorities did not accuse Moscow of being behind the explosions. The country’s president, Maia Sandu, made no mention of Russia when asked on Tuesday about the attacks, saying only that there was “tension between different forces in the region, interested in destabilizing determine the situation.”
There were three separate explosions, local authorities in Transnistria said. One targeted the security office building in the capital Tiraspol. Other explosions hit the local airport and a radio station in the village of Mayak.
Vadim Krasnoselsky, the president of the separatist government in Transnistria, called the explosions “terrorist attacks” and blamed Ukraine. “The trail of these attacks leads to Ukraine,” he said in a statement, without providing details. “I believe that the organizers of this attack have the purpose of drawing Transnistria into the conflict.”
For their part, Ukrainian officials were quick to point the finger at Russia. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said its intelligence indicated that the explosions were “a planned provocation” by Russia aimed at inflaming “anti-Ukrainian sentiment.”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said on Tuesday that “forces that are not interested in regional stability and want to create another flashpoint of tension are behind this.” He did not say who that force was.
Transnistria, with a mixed population speaking Romanian, Russian and Ukrainian, has been a problem for the Moldovan government for more than three decades, ever since retired Soviet military officers living there led the uprising. get up.
Alexandru Flenchea, former deputy prime minister of Moldova, said: “Transnistria was artificially created to keep Moldova under constant threat.
Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the Moldovan government has become increasingly concerned about the possibility that Russia could activate its army in Transnistria, attack Ukraine or invade Moldova, which is not a member of NATO or the Union European Union, and has limited military force.
Mr. Flenchea said those running Transnistria might not be interested in the war because it would interfere with one of the major economic activity, smuggling.
Iulian Groza, head of the European Institute for Policy and Reform, a think tank in the Moldovan capital Chisinau, said a Russian invasion of Moldova seemed unlikely. The short-term goal of the Russians seems to be to destabilize the region and weaken the pro-European Union Moldovan government, Groza said.
Whether the threat of an invasion is real or not, the Moldovans are worried. Many people reacted to news of the explosions in Transnistria in much the same way they did with the outbreak of the invasion of Ukraine – fearing the worst.
“People are panicking again,” said Carmina Vicol, head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Chisinau. “The worst case scenario is that war starts here and breaks everything.”
Ivan Nechepurenko Reporting contributions from Tbilisi, Georgia.
