Transnistria (“across the Dniester”) is a region of Moldova located between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian border. It is inhabited mainly by ethnic Russians, and has been quasi-autonomous since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Moldova proper is populated by ethnic Romanians who speak a dialect of Romanian. Another fragmented ethnic region in Moldova, Gagauzia, is populated by descendants of Turkic people who settled there during the Middle Ages.
Since the war in Ukraine began, Transnistria has been targeted by drones launched from outside its borders. Mysterious explosions have been reported on multiple occasions.
More attacks on Transnistria from Ukrainian territory
Unnoticed by Western media, attacks from Ukrainian territory continue and a Ukrainian presidential aide has openly threatened war.
There are topics that don’t appear in Western media. This applies, for example, to all the overly frank statements made by Ukrainian President Zelensky’s most important adviser. This is Alexei Arestovych, whose name you should remember; see here for details.
Arestovych openly said that Ukraine is ready at any time to expand the war to Transnistria. Since Russian peacekeeping troops have been stationed there since 1992, this would be a very unpleasant situation for Russia, because the Russian troops there would be effectively cut off from supplies. Russia would either have to abandon them there or massively change its strategy in Ukraine to come to the aid of the soldiers there.
Western media recently reported on an explosion in Transnistria, but Western media have not heard anything about the fact that there have been constant new explosions and overflights by armed Ukrainian drones since then.
Russian television reported on this, and I translated the report. Before we get to the translation, however, I want to remind you once again what the region is about, because perhaps not all readers will be aware of it.
Moldova and Transnistria
Moldova is a small country with a short but difficult history. Located between Ukraine and Romania, the country is a former Soviet republic that experienced civil war after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since then, the country has been divided and consists of Moldova, which is recognized under international law, and the breakaway Republic of Transnistria. The civil war was ended by an agreement between Moldova and Russia, and Russian peacekeepers have been protecting the former front line for almost twenty years now.
Moldova is comparable to Ukraine because it is a multi-ethnic country where the dominant Moldovans, who are often referred to as Romanians, discriminate against the languages of other minorities. For example, although Russian is widely spoken and used primarily in cities and in business, it does not have the status of a national language. Exactly these ethnic problems were the reason for the civil war at the time.
Moldova has written into its constitution that it is a neutral state. However, in late 2020, the pro-Western, US-educated politician Maia Sandu, closely associated with George Soros, narrowly won Moldova’s presidential election. After that she also replaced the government with controversial political maneuvers in 2021 and has been consistently leading the country West since the summer of 2021.
After taking power completely, she openly announced a “cleansing” of the country’s judiciary in the summer of 2021, which was presented positively in the West and as a measure to fight corruption. In truth, it was a political purge, as Sandu wants to cement her country’s westward course and remove its opponents who want to preserve the country’s neutrality. Sandu also spoke of needing support from the USA for the upcoming reforms and shortly thereafter described the USA as an important strategic partner.
As early as January there were indications that the situation in the region was getting worse; you can find details about that here.
Now we come to the translation of the report from Sunday evening’s news review from Russian television on the current situation in Transnistria.
Start of translation:
Transnistria: Moldova tightens blockade
Officially, Transnistria is on the “red” terrorism threat level. As recently as Thursday a drone with explosives launched from Ukraine was neutralized over the territory of the republic. Four explosions occurred near the village of Voronkovo, near the Ukrainian border, on Friday evening. A report from Transnistria.
The site of the explosion is cordoned off. The area may not be entered. Behind the cordon is a Military Unit that has been the target of several terrorist attacks over the past two days. Another provocation by the Ukrainian Secret Services.
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