Concern about a new focus of tension, this time in Transnistria, is caused by Moscow’s claims that the Ukraine plans to invade in the breakaway region after a “provocative operation”.

Moldova rejected the accusations of the Russian Ministry of Defense on Thursday and called for calm.

Russia’s RIA news agency reported that Ukraine, which borders Moldova, is planning to stage an attack it will attribute to Russian forces in Transnistria as a pretext to invade. Russia maintains troops in the breakaway region.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told TASS that the West has asked the Moldovan government to cut off all contact with the Moscow-backed Transnistrian authorities.

Chisinau issued a statement on Telegram saying that the Moldovan authorities “do not confirm” the claims of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

“We ask for calm and the public to receive information from official and reliable sources of the Republic of Moldova,” the statement added. “Our institutions work with foreign partners and the public will be informed immediately if there are threats against the country.”

Moldovan Foreign Minister Nikos Popescu said on Wednesday that the small former Soviet republic, which also borders Romania, is prepared for “all kinds of threats” from Russia.
“Our institutions have designed responses to all kinds of threats,” he explained. “Of course we have limited means, but at the same time we are not alone in this.”

Moldovan President Maya Sandu, who wants her country to join the EU, accused Moscow earlier this month of is planning a coup to overthrow the leadership of the country. Russia has denied this.

Transnistria, a Russian-speaking region, broke away from the then-Soviet republic of Moldova in 1990. In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, pro-Russian separatists fought against Moldova.