Attacks in Transnistria Spark Tensions and Increase Risk of Escalation

Transnistria

 

The autonomous, pro-Russian region of Transnistria is being targeted by an organized attempt from an unknown source to destabilize the area.

Chișinău, May 3.– Several attacks took place last week in Moldova. The incidents are concentrated in the separatist region of Transnistria, precisely in the cities of Tiraspol, Parcani, Maiac and Cobasna. Transnistria is a de facto autonomous pro-Russian “state”. De iure, it is a region of Moldavia, and no country in the West backs its independence.

Nonetheless, Russia has taken the Transnistrian quest for self-determination very seriously, deploying more than a thousand troops in its territory and concretely retaining control of law and order. Checkpoints are in place at the borders (also the internal one with Moldova) and a self-proclaimed president administers the region from the local capital of Tiraspol.

 

It is precisely in Tiraspol that the most blatant attack occurred. Last Monday, three men used shoulder-fired missiles against the state security headquarters. The attackers soon fled the scene with a van and no one was injured.

As anticipated above, additional attacks unfolded in other cities. The following day, a military unit was hit in Parcani. In the nearby centre of Maiac, an explosion shattered two radio masts that transmitted Russian news outlets.

Then, on Wednesday, several drones flew over Cobasna, in the north of Transnistria ...

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