(Moscow) Authorities in Transdniestria, a pro-Russian breakaway region of Moldova, have called on the UN to investigate a planned attack on several senior officials they said they foiled earlier Thursday and blamed on Kyiv , which denies.
“I have already instructed the Minister of Foreign Affairs to prepare statements to all members of the UN Security Council. […] We (them) will call to examine this situation and ensure our safety, ”said the leader of the separatists, Vadim Krasnosselskiï, in Russian in a televised address.
This intervention came a few hours after the separatist authorities in Transdniestria assured that they had foiled an attack, fomented according to them by the Ukrainian security services (SBU).
The SBU immediately denounced these allegations as being a “provocation orchestrated by the Kremlin”, while Moscow had already affirmed at the end of February that Kyiv was carrying out “preparations” with a view to attacking Transdniestria, a self-proclaimed pro-Russian border state. ‘Ukraine.
The Moldovan Prime Minister, Dorin Recean for his part affirmed “not to have confirmation” of the veracity of these allegations.
PHOTO INQUAM PHOTOS, VIA REUTERS
Dorin Recean
This new episode of tensions is fueling fears of a widening conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
Since Russia launched its offensive against Ukraine, there has been regular speculation that a new front will be opened from Transdniestria towards the major port city in southern Ukraine, Odessa.
Moscow is also accused of seeking to destabilize Moldova, formerly in its area of influence but now led by resolutely pro-European authorities.
The Ministry of Public Security of Transdniestria thus declared to have “thwarted a terrorist attack” which was, according to this source, “prepared by the Ukrainian security services against several officials” of the separatist region.
It was impossible to independently verify these claims.
“The place where the terrorist act was to take place shows that the objective was first the elimination of the leaders of the State and […] to cause a large number of victims, given that the terrorist act was to take place in the center of Tiraspol where many citizens were to be gathered”, affirmed, according to the Russian agencies, the prosecutor of the region, Anatoli Gouretski.
The territory’s foreign minister, Vitali Ignatev, said one of the people targeted was the leader of this self-proclaimed state, Vadim Krasnosselsky, along with “other high-level officials”.
According to the same Mr. Krasnosselsky, who gave details of the preparations for this planned attack, the SBU “organized a terrorist network” in the region “with the help of ‘so-called refugees’”.
Russia-Moldova tensions
A local television station in Transdniestria, Perviï Pridnestrovski, claimed on the Russian social network VK that the attack was to be committed with a car bomb containing eight kilos of explosives and broadcast images of the one who is presented as the main suspect.
He was identified as Viatcheslav Kisnitchane, born in Tiraspol in 1979 but living for twelve years in Odessa.
According to the Committee of Inquiry, in charge of the investigations, two people have been arrested, and will be prosecuted for espionage, “state treason”, “preparation of an act of terrorism”, “preparation of multiple assassinations” and “illegal possession of explosives”.
Transdniestria, a Russian-speaking region of Moldova on the border with Ukraine, declared its independence after a short war after the fall of the USSR and is not recognized by any state.
It is supported by Russia, which has a military contingent there, while Moldova, a Romanian-speaking country of the former Soviet Union, is resolutely turned towards European integration, ambitions that Moscow sees with a dim view.
President Vladimir Putin gave him a new knife at the end of February to reconciliation efforts between Chisinau and Tiraspol, a peace process paralyzed for years, the master of the Kremlin having canceled a 2023 decree evoking “respect for sovereignty” Moldovan.
In June, the EU granted candidate status to join the bloc to both Ukraine and Moldova.
