Russia said it’s ready to help Transnistria, the pro-Russian breakaway region of Moldova, in response to calls for assistance against what Tiraspol described as “increasing pressure” from Chisinau.
“Russia is open to provide this assistance, but we prefer settling all issues without any exceptions by means of a dialogue, a political dialogue”, the Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by TASS as saying.
The TASS translators, however, rendered Peskov’s quote less sinister, replacing “до последнего”, more accurately translated as “to the bitter end”, with “without any exceptions”. The Russian official didn’t elaborate on what such a “bitter end” might be.
In March 2022, Aleksandr Lukashenko, Putin’s ally in the aggression against Ukraine, spoke to reporters with a war map in the background that had arrows pointing to Moldova, among other apparent targets. This prompted the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon the Belarusian ambassador for explanations.
Meanwhile in Chisinau, Moscow is reminded that the residents of Transnistria are, first of all, citizens of Moldova. “The Republic of Moldova seeks the peaceful resolution, through dialogue, of all the problems related to the Transnistrian case. More than 357,000 Moldovan citizens live in that region, who, even if they have the citizenship of other states as well, remain first of all our citizens. This means that Chisinau will do everything possible to keep these people safe from war, but also from social and economic problems. We will cooperate with our international partners in order to gradually solve all the problems that persist in the region, from economic ones to those human rights-related”, a spokesperson for the Reintegration Policy Bureau told Deschide.MD.
