Idea to Remove Russian Peacekeepers From Transnistria May Lead to War - Lavrov

The idea to remove Russian peacekeepers from Transnistria can result in an armed conflict in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Moscow believes that those who gave Moldova the idea to remove Russian peacekeepers from Transnistria are seeking war in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday.

On August 22, Moldova's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Victor Moraru sent a letter to the organization's secretariat stating that the country expected to put the the issue of foreign military personnel removal onto the agenda of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly.

"I do not think that it is possible to predict a war. Nobody wants it, except for those who drove the representatives of the Moldovan government when they wrote a note on the need to withdraw our military personnel from Transnistria. Those who suggested this to the Moldovan government want a war between us and Ukraine, between us and Moldova," Lavrov said at a meeting with Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) students.

Transnistria, a region with a predominantly ethnically Russian and Ukrainian population, is a self-proclaimed republic that seceded from the Soviet Republic of Moldova in 1990 for fear of possible reunion with Romania.