As of: February 28, 2024, 6:02 p.m
By: Patrick Mayer
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Europe is threatened with the next armed conflict: the breakaway region of Transnistria is asking Russia for protection from the Republic of Moldova.
Questions and answers.
Tiraspol – What is he up to this time?
Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to keep Europe on tenterhooks with his brutality and imperialism, while his Russian soldiers are dying by the thousands in Ukraine.
Transnistria: Separatists in Moldova ask Moscow for “protection”
And now this: The pro-Russian separatists in Transnistria have asked Russia for “protection” from Moldova.
Russian news agencies such as
Ria Novosti
reported this on Wednesday (February 28).
Moscow wanted to examine this request, it was said.
The separatists cited an “economic blockade” by Moldova as the reason for their concern.
Is Europe facing the next armed conflict besides the Ukraine war?
What exactly is it about?
What are Putin's presumed interests?
And to what extent does the development put pressure on the NATO defense alliance?
Questions
and answers.
January 24th in Tiraspol: Thousands of demonstrators take to the streets against a political decision from the Moldovan capital Chisinau.
© IMAGO/Artem Kulekin
Transnistria, the source of the fire: The story behind it - and what it's all about in Moldova
The internationally unrecognized Republic of Transnistria was created between 1990 and 1992 during the collapse of the Soviet Union through secession from the Republic of Moldova.
The independence movement resulted in war from March to July 1992.
Newly formed Moldovan forces of around 10,000 men in the form of police units on one side and the Transnistrian separatists on the other faced each other.
The fighting claimed over 500 lives and ended with military intervention by the Russian 14th Guards Army stationed there on the Transnistrian side.
Since then it has been a so-called “frozen conflict”.
As a result of the fighting, Transnistria declared itself independent, something the Republic of Moldova has never recognized since its own independence from the Soviet Union (August 27, 1991).
According to the government in Chisinau and its allies in the West, Transnistria belongs to Moldova with its around 2.5 million inhabitants.
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Transnistria in Moldova: What interests do Russia and Vladimir Putin have?
Since the Russian 14th Army ended the Transnistrian War through military intervention in the summer of 1992, an estimated number of more than 1,000 soldiers have been stationed in the region.
Moscow's units remained in the area henceforth known as the "safety zone", where they are housed around an ammunition depot in Colbasna in the north.
According to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), Russia actually committed to the complete withdrawal of its troops by 2002 in 1999 - but did not comply with this.
Around 30 percent of the population in Transnistria is of Russian origin.
In 2022, the historian Yuri Felshtinsky openly warned of a war between Russia and the Republic of Moldova over Transnistria.
“Even before they finish with Ukraine, they will start a war there as soon as they reach Transnistria,” the American author of Russian origin told the British
Express
: “Moldova is in danger the moment Russia heads towards Transnistria.” The country has been on Putin's list for a long time.
Moldova is in danger the moment Russia moves towards Transnistria.
Historian Yuri Felshtinsky in the British Express
Transnistria: Danger of military conflict in Moldova
Transnistria, which with around 375,000 inhabitants covers around ten percent of the territory of the Republic of Moldova, set up its own paramilitary army in the 1990s, which, according to the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
had up to 4,500 soldiers in 2009 had.
The
OSCE
yearbook from 2009 also stated that the separatists were able to mobilize up to 80,000 reservists at that time.
There are no current estimates.
According to the Global Firepower Index (GPI),
the Moldovan armed forces
only have 8,500 professional soldiers (as of February 23), no battle tanks and no combat aircraft.
The defense relies on infantry, which would fight with trucks and with American military jeeps Humvees.
Katja Christina Plate, head of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation's foreign office in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, warned in a guest article on
t-online
: “The Republic of Moldova was made part of the USSR at the end of the Second World War.
Accordingly, she is now in the crosshairs of Vladimir Putin's historical revisionism.” Why would he start a civil war in Moldova?
Speculation.
On February 29th, the Moscow ruler will speak publicly.
There are rumors that Putin will then comment on the Transnistria conflict.
Transnistria |
|
|---|---|
Capital city: |
Tiraspol (estimated 150,000 inhabitants) |
Resident: |
around 375,000 in total |
Area: |
3567 km² |
Status: |
Russia-backed de facto regime |
international law: |
Part of the Republic of Moldova |
Official languages: |
Moldovan, Russian and Ukrainian |
Transnistria: What does the Moldova conflict mean for NATO and Ukraine?
The suspicion that Putin would benefit from a conflict not far from the NATO border is obvious.
The Americans in particular supported the Moldovan army through training and arms deliveries.
Explosive: It is only 60 kilometers from Tiraspol to the Ukrainian Black Sea coast.
From the Romanian border, NATO secures Ukrainian grain exports in the coastal waters.
Moscow power circle: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (left) and Vladimir Putin.
© IMAGO/Alexander Kazakov
A conflict in Moldova would mean that NATO forces would be more committed to protecting the Romanian border.
The NATO military airport Constanta (Constanta) is located on the Black Sea coast.
American F-16 and F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets are stationed at the neighboring Borcea air base, as is the 53rd Fighter Squadron of the Romanian Air Force.
If there were armed fighting in Transnistria, Ukraine would also have to protect its border not far from the port city of Odessa more strongly.
Which is part of Putin's calculations.
(pm)