Russian generals insinuate that the airport in Tiraspol will be used to supply the Russian troops deployed in the Transnistrian region now that the Ukrainian Rada decided to ban the transit of the Russian military through Ukraine, said military expert Iurie Pantea. In an interview for Radio Free Europe, he stated that Russia already made the necessary effort for the airport in Tiraspol to be the one through which military supplies will reach Transnistria, IPN reports.
The Ukrainian Rada denounced five security agreements signed with Moscow, including one that allowed Russia to transport military personnel to Transnistria, in support of the peacekeeping operations. The given decision is to be promulgated by President Petro Poroshenko. Russian army general Iury Iakubov said the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Transnistria will be anyway supplied, most probably through military transport aviation.
Expert Iurie Pantea said the Moldovan authorities didn’t contribute to taking such decisions. “I see no political force in Chisinau that would firmly demand obeying the documents signed in 1992, 1993, 1994. Until now Russia managed to make the Moldovan authorities accept what it considered right. Chisinau is now in a relatively comfortable position as things do not depend on it now,” he stated.
If Ukraine does not allow military transport through its airspace, Russia will have to bypass it and to go through Romania and Moldova, which is a much longer distance. Iurie Pantea said the Russian military officials will not welcome such a decision given the enormous costs and different political arrangements implied.
The Russian troops in Transnistria and the Russian military peacekeeping contingent now total about 1,500 soldiers.
