A string of as-yet unexplained explosions targeting state-run communication facilities and military infrastructure in the unrecognized statelet Transnistria, between Moldova and Ukraine’s Odesa region, is threatening an expansion of Ukraine’s war with Russia, news reports and official statements said on 26 Apr.
Authorities in the Transnistrian “capital” Tiraspol said the territory had been hit with at least three partisan-style attacks in the last 24 hours, and that the region was now under a “red” level of the terrorist threat.
The announcement, made public via Transnistrian state-controlled media, and immediately repeated by Russian Federation (RF) state-controlled media, claimed that on 26 April an unknown person or persons used explosives to blow up a pair of Soviet-era radio transmission towers near the Transnistrian village Mayak.
Images made public by the Transnistrian secret police the MGB showed the site’s two most powerful antennae, one a megawatt array and the second with half-megawatt capacity, lying smashed on the ground, and repair workers on the scene. Local residents heard two explosions at 9 A.M. in the morning, news reports said. The antennas’ primary function was the transmission of RF state-controlled news and entertainment programs to Transnistria, Ukrainian news reports said.
A second “attack” purportedly took place in the vicinity of a military base in the town Parcani, adjacent to the Transnistrian “capital” Tiraspol, later in the day. An RF state-controlled social media “reporter” named Semyon Pegov claimed NATO-standard 60mm mortars were used to hit the base. Moldovan social media reports said Parcani local residents heard several explosions and that a Transnistrian special forces unit based in the town was placed on full alert. No casualties were reported. Beyond the fact that multiple sources seemed to believe the attack had taken place, The KP was unable to confirm any details about the Parcani explosions.
Shortly after midday on 26 Apr. Transnistrian authorities declared a maximum “red” level of the terrorist threat was in effect across the territory. An official statement said the territory’s leadership “would do what is necessary to protect national security.”
Moldovan Prime Minister Maya Sandu was planning an emergency meeting of the country’s National Security Council later in the day to decide what action to take in response to the alleged attacks and the Transnistrian red threat terrorist level levels, the Infotag Moldovan news agency reported.
Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk-based statelet Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on 26 Apr. comments to the Kremlin-controlled RIA Novosti news agency said that the Kremlin’s forces operating in south Ukraine should intervene in Transnistria immediately. Wanted by Kyiv on multiple criminal charges including war crimes, Pushilin helped Russian army troops, some pretending to be local “separatists”, in a successful fight to break the DPR territory away from Ukrainian control. The 2014 secession was directly supported by the Kremlin, however, the international community’s response was mostly limited to declarations of concern and gentle sanctions on some Russian officials.
“After reaching the borders of the Donetsk region, we need to begin the next stage of the operation, taking into account what is happening in Transnistria and the shelling of the border regions of Russia with Ukraine,” Pushilin said.
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence denied being a party to the attacks. A Facebook post said, “the state of Ukraine has nothing to do with this and similar provocations.”
The incidents at Mayak and Pucani, along with Pushilin’s inflammatory comments, were preceded by a purported 25 Apr. attack on the MGB headquarters in Tiraspol, during which unknown persons purportedly fired anti-tank grenades at the building. No one was hurt and structural damage was minor.
Ukrainian independent news agencies covering the incident published images from the scene showing that the discarded grenade launchers were clearly marked as RPG-29 weapons manufactured only in the RF and not Ukraine, and claimed the “attack” was, most likely a false flag operation conducted by Kremlin agents intended to draw Transnistrian forces into Russia’s war with Ukraine. By afternoon on 26 Apr. the official Transnistrian source had not openly liked the attacks with Ukraine. A statement from Moldova’s National Bureau for Country Reintegration called for calm.
“According to available information, unknown people fired grenade launchers at the headquarters of the structure that deals with security issues in the region. According to preliminary data, there are no victims or injured…The purpose of today’s incident is to create pretexts for aggravating the security situation in the Transnistrian region,” the statement said in part.
Moscow-supported separatists assisted by Russian “volunteers” fought in Transnistria fought a successful war of secession in 1991-92 to exit Moldovan control. Its economy is heavily dependent on smuggling, Kremlin assistance payments, Russian fuel deliveries, and resources provided by the Russian Federation’s 14th Army, a brigade-sized infantry unit purportedly stationed in Transnistria by Moscow as peacekeepers. Ukrainian officials since late February have warned this formation might try and invade Ukraine from the west.
A narrow strip of land running some 411 km. along the right bank of the Dniestr River, Transnistria purportedly follows Socialist principles of government, supports the Russian language, and calls itself the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR). Moldova for years has called Transnistria an enclave artificially created by the Kremlin to undermine Moldovan sovereignty and to inhibit Moldovan efforts to integrate with NATO and the EU. Transnistria’s leaders have repeatedly come into open conflict with Moscow over alleged Transnistrian debts for fuel deliveries and alleged 14th Army debts for use of Transnistrian military facilities.
