NATO to ‘condemn’ and ‘support’ Chisinau if Russia decides to annex Transnistria

If Russia decides to annex the unrecognized Moscow-controlled Transnistria region of Moldova, the alliance will condemn such actions and continue to support Chisinau, the Realidadea.md news outlet reported on Feb. 26, citing NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is planning to “squeeze Ukraine in a vice grip,” including through unrecognized Transnistria, he said, adding that Moscow currently lacks the strength to do so.

Read also: Moldova’s President Sandu warns of Russian attempts to destabilize Moldova in spring 2024

Geoană also said that the so-called “referendums” held earlier in the unrecognized regions of Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Transnistria were “absolutely invalid from the international point of view”.

He also suggested that a congress of “deputies” in Tiraspol on Feb. 28 could announce not a “referendum” but new trade agreements between Russia and the unrecognized republic.

Read also: If not for Ukraine, Russia would attack Moldova — President Sandu

Earlier, a local oppositionist and activist Gennady Chorba said, that a congress of “MPs” from all levels would be convened in Tiraspol on Feb. 28 to possibly appeal to Russia to “accept Transnistria into the Russian Federation”.

However, this information was later debunked by the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR).

On Jan. 15, Moldovan President Maia Sandu stated that in the spring of 2024, Russia would try again to destabilize the situation in the country.

In February 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Ukrainian intelligence had intercepted a Russian plan to destabilize the political situation in Moldova.

Read also: Ukraine will help Moldova in case of escalation in Transnistria — diplomat

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