The Russian Defense Ministry announced Thursday that they have intelligence reports that the Zelensky regime is plotting a provocation in the Transnistria region of Moldova in an effort to draw the Republic of Moldova into the war in Ukraine.
“According to obtained information, in the near future, the Kiev regime is planning an armed false-flag operation against the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic which will be implemented by the units of Ukraine’s armed forces with the involvement of the Azov nationalist formation,” a defense ministry spokesperson told reporters.
The spokesman specified that a staged invasion by allegedly Russian troops from Transnistria will be used as the pretext for the invasion. “To this end, Ukrainian saboteurs involved in the false-flag invasion will be wearing the uniforms of the servicemen of the Russian Federation’s Armed Forces,” he added.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin added that the West had ordered the government in Chișinău to stop any interaction with the Moscow-backed Transnistrian administration.
The news caused consternation among the public in the Republic of Moldova. Authorities in Chișinău denied any knowledge of the information presented by the Russian Defense Ministry and issued a call for calm. “We call for calm and invite the public to follow the official and credible sources of the Republic of Moldova. Our institutions cooperate with foreign partners, and in case of any danger to the country, they will inform the public opinion without delay,” the Moldavian Government said in a statement to TVR Moldova.
Some analysts say it appears the Ukrainians have been working recently to involve Moldova in the conflict in their attempt to extend the fighting as close to NATO borders as possible and to shore up Western support for Zelensky. The recent installation of a NATO-approved government in Moldova was allegedly a direct result of these efforts. This possibly led Vladimir Putin earlier this week to withdraw formal Russian recognition of Moldavia’s sovereignty.
The situation in Moldova is a powder keg. If Ukraine succeeds in drawing Moldova into the conflict will NATO become directly involved in the war given recent assurances by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis that Romania will defend Moldova's territorial integrity by all means possible? It should be noted that today’s Republic of Moldova, along with southern Bessarabia and northern Bucovina currently in Ukraine, are historical Romanian territories brutally stripped from Romania by the Soviets at the outset of World War II.
Ultranationalist Ukrainian politician Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, went on the Ukrainian television station 24TV to call for a dangerous expansion of the war with Russia beyond the country’s borders, seeking to draw other countries into the conflict.
Danilov called on the Republic of Moldova to resume a decades-old military conflict with the separatist region of Transnistria, claiming that if it fails to do so, Moldova cannot remain an independent state. He also called on Georgia to take military action to reclaim Abkhaziaand South Ossetia, occupied by Russian forces since 2008.“I am certain that, sooner or later, the Moldovans and Georgians will have to join this war because the war of liberation of their territory is mandatory for any country,” Danilov said.
The Ukrainian official noted that it would be easier for Ukraine to fight against Russia if the Republic of Moldova and Georgia joined the military conflict to free their territories from Russian control. Not surprisingly, Danilov did not call on Romania or Moldova to liberate the territories of Northern Bucovina and Southern Bessarabia, as well as Snake Island, seized from Romania by the Soviet Regime and currently occupied by Ukraine.
