{"id":282627,"date":"2024-02-29T07:35:14","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T07:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=282627"},"modified":"2024-03-02T06:43:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-02T06:43:37","slug":"moldovan-breakaway-region-appeals-to-russia-as-a-spat-with-the-pro-western-government-worsens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=282627","title":{"rendered":"Moldovan breakaway region appeals to Russia as a spat with the pro-Western government worsens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen McGrath and Aurel Obreja \u2013 Associated Press Feb 28, 2024<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Transnistria is that valley in red, between Moldova and Ukraine. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

Officials in Moldova\u2019s Russia-backed breakaway region of Transnistria appealed to Moscow for protection Wednesday, as tensions escalate with the pro-Western government.<\/p>\n

Moldova, a candidate to join the European Union, imposed new customs duties on Jan. 1, 2024 on imports to and exports from Transnistria, which borders Ukraine<\/a> and is not recognized by any United Nations member countries, including Russia which maintains close ties to the region.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, members of the Transnistrian congress used a rare meeting in the regional capital, Tiraspol, to ask the Russian Duma to \u201cimplement measures for defending Transnistria amid increasing pressure from Moldova, given the fact that more than 220,000 Russian citizens reside in Transnistria.”<\/p>\n

A short war in the early 1990s led pro-Russian forces in Transnistria to declare a breakaway state. To this day, Russia stations about 1,500 troops in the region as so-called peacekeepers, who guard huge Soviet-era weapons and ammunition stockpiles.<\/p>\n

Moldova is working to align its economic legislation with the EU as it pursues full membership in the bloc. But the new customs duties leveled on Transnistria have angered officials there, who say the measures harm local residents and businesses.<\/p>\n

In a declaration readout on Wednesday, officials in Tiraspol also appealed to the European Parliament to prevent what it described as pressure from Moldova from “violating the rights and freedoms\u201d of local residents. They made similar appeals to the secretary-general of the United Nations; the European Parliament; and the International Committee of the Red Cross.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Wednesday\u2019s meeting, tensions mounted after an opposition legislator in Tiraspol last week said the gathering could used to announce a bid by Transnistria to join Russia.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Moldova\u2019s government dismissed those claims and labeled the meeting a \u201cpropaganda event,\u201d adding that there was \u201cno danger of escalation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexander Korshunov, chairman of the Transnistrian Supreme Council, said on Wednesday that Moldova was \u201ctaking advantage of the geopolitical situation\u201d and using the economy \u201cas a tool of pressure and blackmail.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cMoldova\u2019s policy and goals regarding Transnistria have remained unchanged over the past decades: to destroy our economic potential, create unbearable living conditions for our citizens \u2026 and achieve the dismantling of our statehood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, also commented on those annexation speculations on Wednesday. \u201cFor several days now, people in Chisinau have been speculating and wondering what decisions this forum might make,” she said. “Well, apparently, the same panic gripped NATO.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a 2006 referendum in Moldova, more than 95% of voters backed the option of joining Russia but the ballot wasn\u2019t internationally recognized. The U.S. State Department at the time called it a \u201cprovocative referendum\u201d that \u201ccannot be taken seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moldova was granted EU candidate status in 2022. It was further buoyed in December last year when Brussels said it would open accession negotiations, alongside neighboring Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Transnistria, which has a population of about 470,000, is a thin strip of territory located between the eastern bank of the Dniester River and Moldova\u2019s border with Ukraine. The unrecognized state, officially named the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, has its own currency and flag.<\/p>\n

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Moldova\u2019s pro-Western leaders have routinely accused Moscow of conducting campaigns to try to destabilize the country, which was a Soviet republic until 1991.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Stephen McGrath reported from London; Dasha Litvinova contributed from Tallinn, Estonia.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2014 Donetsk asked to rejoin the Russian Federation. This was achieved in 2022 when Russia annexed the breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, including Donetsk. Now Transnistria has appealed to Moscow for protection. The thing is that it is located in western Ukraine, next to Moldova, which has just applied to join the EU<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58,91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Current_Affairs","category-russia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=282627"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282659,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282627\/revisions\/282659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=282627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=282627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=282627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}