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Oleg Serebrian: Ukraine has sovereign right to decide where to deploy troops


https://www.ipn.md/en/oleg-serebrian-ukraine-has-sovereign-right-to-decide-where-to-7965_1095574.html

Ukraine has the sovereign right to decide to deploy its troops where it considerers there are risks to its security, said the Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration of Moldova Oleg Serebrian. According to the official, the deployment of troops along the Transnistrian segment of Moldova’s border does not mean there is an agreement on an eventual attack on the Transnistrian region between Chisinau and Kyiv, IPN reports.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently warned that Ukraine gets ready to attack the Transnistrian region as Kyiv mobilized troops close to the Transnistrian segment of the border. Moreover, this noted that any attack on the Transnistrian region will be perceived as an attack on the Russian Federation. Oleg Serebrian assured there is no agreement with Kyiv on a military operation on the left side of the Nistru.

“It is the sovereign right of Ukraine to deploy its troops where it considers necessary or where it considers there is a danger. But this does not mean that Ukraine is preparing an attack or that there is an agreement on an eventual military operation in the Transnistrian region between Chisinau and Kyiv. This is absurd. In Cocieri, in Molovata Nouă, I was asked by the people there about this. The alarm level is higher there as the people have the living memory of what happened there in 1992. The people have many questions about the so-called military settlement of this conflict. I once again convince myself how powerful the rumors on the left side of the Nistru are,” Oleg Serebrian stated in the talk show “Reflection Points” on Vocea Basarabiei station.

The Deputy Premier reiterated that the population, the political and economic elite in Tiraspol do not want the region to be engaged in war. He noted that Chisinau insists on the demilitarization of the separatist region and on the peaceful settlement of the conflict, including by diplomatic way and by dialogue.

“As regards the withdrawal of troops, the stance of Chisinau remained the same. There is a decision that was taken in Istanbul. It is a decision assumed by Russia related to munitions and the military presence in the Transnistrian region. I don’t know why the fact that we remind of this position generates questions. The position of Chisinau has been constant, regardless of the government that was in power, either more vocal or less vocal. The message was the same – that the Transnistrian region should be demilitarized. Demilitarization is the first step of the package of measures in the Transnistrian settlement process,” stated the Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration.

Recently, Natalia Humeniuk, Head of the United Coordinating Press Center of Security and Defense Forces of the South of Ukraine, confirmed that an “adequate” number of troops were deployed along the Transnistrian segment of the border so as to prevent an eventual attack by the Russian troops.