Transnistria, tensions are rising: what happened and what does it have to do with the war in Ukraine

On Monday 25 April the authorities of the Transnistriaa pro-Russian republic self-proclaimed independent in the 1990s but still recognized by the international community as part of the Moldovareported that a series of explosions hit the state security ministry in the capital, Tiraspol

WATCH THE VIDEO: Sky’s reportage from Transnistria

The ministry reported that there are some broken windows and that smoke was coming out of the building, but there are no victims. He then added that “according to preliminary information, they were fired shots with a portable anti-tank grenade launcher“and that bomb squads, firefighters as well as ambulances went to the place, as some photos circulated on Telegram seem to confirm, but not verified, as he points out The Jerusalem Post

Transnistria, the no man’s land that could change the war in Ukraine

At the moment it is not known who carried out the attack, but authorities said an investigation team also arrived at the scene. This is another photo circulating on Telegram

Russia-Ukraine war, all updates

Following the episode, the Moldovan government said it was “worried“and called for calm in the region. In a note released and reported by the Financial Timesit reads: “The goal of today’s accident is create pretexts to force the security situation in the Transnistrian region, which is not controlled by the constitutional authorities ”

A brief history of Transnistria

The news outlet also notes that the incident occurred a few days after a senior Russian commander said that conquer southern Ukraine would have opened “another passage towards Transnistria”, and that Moscow spoke ofoppression of the Russian-speaking people in this area. A similar justification was used to initiate and justify the invasion of Ukraine, which started from the Donbass

War in Ukraine: the reports and live coverage of Sky TG24. VIDEO

According to Andrey Safonov, a deputy of the Supreme Council, quoted by the Russian agency Tass and taken up by The Jerusalem Postwhat happened “is an attempt to generate panic and fear“Furthermore, it is not the first time that someone has tried to put pressure on the region

Transnistria has always been a special remark since the war in Ukraine began and was cited among the possible areas that Russia could attack if it wanted to continue the offensive and not limit itself to the conflict it is already carrying out.

The first hypotheses on how the war and the fears of the Eastern countries could have evolved

The Republic has, among other things, asked to be annexed to Russia and has strong links with Moscow, which pays a pension to the elderly and provides gas at controlled prices. As the Washington Postin this area are also present many Russian soldiers which, in theory, should carry out peacekeeping operations but, in practice, it is feared that they may be used for military purposes

At the beginning of April, the Ukrainian General Staff reported that “work had been intensified for mobilize units of Russian troops based in the territory of the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova in order to conduct provocations and carry out demonstration actions on the border with Ukraine. “The news was picked up and commented by the Moldovan Foreign Ministry according to which there was no information to confirm the mobilization of troops, but the authorities would continue to monitor the area

The news had also been denied by the Transnistrian authorities, who had defined the information disseminated as “absolutely false” and declared that “all military units present in the territory are in permanent deployment and carry out the activities in a standard operating mode “. According to their version, even those planned had indeed been “deliberately downplayed” to avoid increasing the tension