Moldova warns: Russia wants to deploy 10,000 soldiers to Transnistria
Illustrative photo: Russia may grow its military presence in Transnistria (Getty Images)
Russia plans to greatly increase the number of its soldiers in Transnistria. But so far, it cannot send them there, according to Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean, reports Financial Times.
The FT notes that Russia cannot send additional soldiers to Transnistria yet, as the region is landlocked and located between Ukraine and Moldova.
But, according to Recean, Russia is trying to interfere in the country's upcoming parliamentary elections in September, hoping that a more friendly future government will allow it to deploy more soldiers there.
“This is a huge effort to undermine Moldovan democracy... They want to consolidate their military presence in the Transnistrian region,” said the head of the Moldovan government.
He specified that Russia is interfering in the elections through online propaganda and illegal money transfers to parties and voters.
“You can imagine with 10,000 troops, what the leverage and pressure would be on the southwestern part of Ukraine. But also close to Romania, which is a NATO member state,” Recean said.
The prime minister added that the data on Russia's plans to deploy 10,000 soldiers to Transnistria is an intelligence assessment.
“Currently, their forces there are almost meaningless. But with a higher military presence in Transnistria that a Russia-leaning government can allow for, they can consolidate,” the prime minister said.
Russian soldiers in Transnistria
There are currently about 1,500 Russian soldiers in Transnistria. But in reality, most of them are locals who joined the Russian army.
Only a small part of these 1,500 soldiers were actually sent from Russia.
In February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had withdrawn several thousand soldiers from Transnistria. The troops could have been withdrawn through Chișinău.
