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Two powerful explosions rocked Moldova’s pro-Russian separatist region on the border with Ukraine today, days after the Kremlin said it had launched a crackdown on Russophones.
The blasts struck two powerful Soviet-era radio antennas broadcasting by Russian stations in Transnistria, an internationally unknown autonomous region on Ukraine’s southwestern border.
The strikes occurred in the town of Maiac about 12 kilometers west of the border with Ukraine, the region’s interior ministry said.
A day earlier, grenade blasts had hit the region’s security ministry in the regional capital, Tiraspol. Officials said no one was injured in the blasts.
In response to the incidents Moldovan President Maia Sandu had convened a meeting of the country’s security council.
Moldovan pro-European authorities had expressed concerns about rising tensions in Transnistria, especially since Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Noting the escalation of tensions, Kremlin military chief Rustam Minnekayev said earlier that Russia was seeking control of southern Ukraine until it reached a land connection with Transnistria “where there has been similar repression of the Russian-speaking population.”
Moldova’s foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador for comments, complaining about statements violating its territorial integrity ‘within internationally recognized borders’.
They said Moscow’s suggestions about the need to protect the Russian-speaking population were a frightening echo of the justification for the occupation of Ukraine.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that Russia was closely following developments in Transnistria, adding that developments in the region were a serious concern for Russia.
Transnistria is a land belt with about 470,000 inhabitants between Moldova and Ukraine, where all citizens have Russian citizenship but are internationally recognized as part of Moldova.
About 1,500 Russian army troops are always stationed in Transnistria, housed in a depot of about 20,000 tons of ammunition dating back to the Soviet era, according to Britain’s Daily Mail.
In the early hours of Tuesday, two explosions struck radio station antennas broadcast by Russian media in the border area with Ukraine.
According to reports, the explosions took place this morning at 6:40 and 7:05 at the Mayak radio station, about 50 kilometers from the regional capital Tiraspol.
So far no connection has been made between the attack in Tiraspol and the explosion of radio antennas.
For several days, officials have been saying that the conflict in Ukraine could spread to other countries, starting with the border ones.
Unlike Ukraine and Georgia, Moldova does not seek NATO membership but has applied for membership in the European Union. The country of 2.6 million has only a few thousand soldiers and can not resist Russian attack.
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