No Signs of Preparations for Direct Attack on Transnistria - Republic's Head

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - There are no signs of preparations for a direct attack on Transnistria, but the risk of new provocations is not excluded, the breakaway republic's head, Vadim Krasnoselsky, told Sputnik.

"There are no signs of preparations for a direct attack on Transnistria right now. But that doesn't mean we're not in danger. Unfortunately, the risk of new provocations is not ruled out, so in May I signed a decree extending the yellow level of terrorist threat for two months, until July 18," Krasnoselsky said.

He added that, at the moment, there is a consensus that the unfreezing of the conflict is a catastrophic scenario that needs to be avoided.

"The competent authorities are vigilantly monitoring the situation on the borders with Ukraine and Moldova, as well as within Transnistria, in order to exclude any attempts of sabotage and terrorist acts," said Krasnoselsky, adding "We remain open to the joint investigation [of the terrorist attacks] with international representatives. The main idea that we are transmitting to the world community is the need to comprehensively analyze the situation, draw conclusions and make common efforts to prevent repeated terrorist attacks against peaceful Transnistria."

Transnistria, 60% of whose population are Russians and Ukrainians, sought to secede from Moldova even before the collapse of the Soviet Union, fearing that Moldova would join Romania on a wave of nationalism. In 1992, after an unsuccessful attempt by the Moldovan authorities to resolve the problem by force, Transnistria became a territory virtually outside the control of Kishinev. After the start of Russia's special military operation in neighboring Ukraine in February 2022, tensions in Transnistria escalated.

On March 9 this year, the ministry of state security of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) said that a terrorist attack against the PMR's officials had been prevented in the city of Tiraspol and that the attack had been prepared under the instructions of the Security Service of Ukraine. Anatoly Guretsky, Prosecutor of the PMR, said that the investigation established the preparation of another terrorist attack against an Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) delegation on February 14. The Security Service of Ukraine has refuted the allegations and called them provocation.