Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has instructed to establish contacts with the Moldovan authorities after Russia simplified the procedure for granting citizenship to residents of unrecognized Transnistria.
Zelensky described Vladimir Putin’s decision as a “specific step.” The Ukrainian leader added: “Russia is looking for new soldiers in this way, because citizenship means military duty. This is also Russia’s classification of the Transnistrian region as its property.”
According to him, the deployment of special services in Transnistria poses a challenge for Ukraine, which wants a stable and strong Moldova. Zelensky ordered the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to contact the Moldovan authorities to conduct a joint assessment and take action.
The President of Ukraine added: “I also expect proposals from the Ukrainian special services, from our intelligence about the form of the response. Russia needs to think more about its refineries and oil transportation, and not about the citizens of other countries and the territories of other peoples.”
And Moldova’s President Maia Sandu as well restricted Russia’s actions are coupled with the fact that Moscow “needs more people to send to the war in Ukraine.” She described Putin’s decision as a Russian tactic to intimidate Moldova amid its efforts to reintegrate Transnistria.
Transnistria is a self-proclaimed republic in northeastern Moldova. It was declared in 1990, but neither Chisinau nor Moscow recognized it.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the unrecognized state continued to exist as the Transnistrian-Moldavian Republic. It is only partially recognized by South Ossetia and Abkhazia.