Moldova’s foreign ministry has summoned Russia’s ambassador after the Russian military said it plans to seize all of southern Ukraine and open a route to the breakaway Moldovan region of Trans-Dniester.
Major General Rustam Minnekayev, the acting commander of Russia’s Central Military District, on Friday said that Moscow plans to establish full control over the Donbas region and southern Ukraine, as part of the „second phase” of its military operation.
He also claimed that control of southern Ukraine would give Russia a gateway to the separatist region of Trans-Dniester, where there are „facts of oppression of the Russian-speaking population.”
The Moldovan foreign ministry called Russian Ambassador Moldova Oleg Vasnetsov to express Moldova’s “deep concern with the statements made by the Russian official,” the ministry said.
The ministry called the comments ‘baseless’ and in contradiction with Russia’s recognition of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldova.”
The announcement has sparked concern that Russia could use the territory to launch attacks on western Ukraine, or move in on Moldova.
The predominantly Russian speaking „Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic” is not internationally recognized, not even by Russia.
Trans-Dniester is a narrow strip of land on the east bank of the Dniester River, sandwiched between Ukraine and Moldova. The breakaway region seceded from Moldova after a brief military conflict in 1992.
Russia has about 1,500 soldiers stationed in the region and regularly conducts military maneuvers there.
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