Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebrian said there are no major risks for the Transnistrian region to be engaged in the war in Ukraine. In the meeting he had with the separatist leader Vadim Krasnoselsky, he was assured that Tiraspol is not interested in the escalation of the conflict. Also, the government of Moldova is sure that Kyiv is not involved in the organization of the recent provocations staged in the Transnistrian region, IPN reports.
The official said there are now no signs showing that preparations are being made for an eventual involvement of the separatist region in the war. Not even the self-styled Transnistrian authorities and the citizens of the region support the idea of extension of the military conflict that takes place in Ukraine.
“There is always a dose of risk. A frozen conflict can thaw in unfavorable circumstances. When the situation in the whole region is worrisome, we cannot say there are no risks, but the risk level is for now not very high. No one denies the fact that we live in a sensitive area, while the war in Ukraine affects us, including in terms of security. But the alert level over the possibility of involvement of the region in the conflict are not very high. We didn’t see interest in the escalation of tensions on the left side of the Nistru, either among the population or among the business community. There are no risks for this conflict to degenerate in the near future,” Oleg Serebrian stated in the talk show “Freedom with Dorin Galben” on TV8 channel.
Even if the so-called authorities of the Transnistrian region announced that they have information confirming that Kyiv was involved in the organziation of the reecent attacks in the region, Serebrian denies such a scenario. He said Ukraine has no interest in generating a new hotbed inside Moldova.
“There are no reasons to believe that Ukraine was involved in the organization of those attacks. We are confident that the Ukrainians haven’t been involved and have no interest in organizing such destabilization actions. The Russians also didn’t claim those attacks. We therefore believe that they were organized inside. In the discussions I had with Vadim Krasnoselsky, I didn’t feel a martial air, a wish to solve the problem by using force. We are sure that Tiraspol is not interested in degradation,” stated Oleg Serebrian.
According to official data, there are 1,500 to 2,000 soldiers in the Transnistrian region. The Russian soldiers in the zone act as peacekeepers, who have been present there since 1992, since after the war on the Nistru ended, and as members of the Operational Group of Russian Forces that illegally stays on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.
