The safety of Russian citizens in Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region is currently under threat, Sergey Shoigu, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, has said.
Russia appears to be using the same playbook it used in eastern Ukraine and Donbas before it staged its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Moscow will take all steps to protect them, Shoigu was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
Pro-Russia Transnistria broke from Moldova in 1990 before the the Soviet Union collapsed and, following a brief war in 1992, has existed in peace alongside the post-Soviet state for more than three decades.
Moldova’s pro-European authorities have recently been applying greater pressure on the separatist enclave.
Speaking to Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, Shoigu said Moscow was ready to protect Russian nationals in the sliver of land in eastern Moldova which borders Ukraine.
He said the region, which is not internationally recognized is home to more than 220,000 Russian citizens.
“Their interests and safety are now under threat due to the ill-considered and irresponsible actions of Kyiv and Chisinau,” he said. “If the need arises, Russia will take all necessary steps and use all available methods to protect them.”
He added that Russia hoped “that things will not develop according to the most negative of scenarios”.
Transnistria objects to Moldova’s decision last week barring entry to commanders of a 1,500-strong contingent of Russian “peacekeepers” and rejects the Chisinau government’s plan to extend customs duties and value added tax to the breakaway region.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu wants her country to join the European Union by 2030 and says that can happen even without a resolution of the Transnistria dispute.
