Two explosions damaged Soviet-era radio masts that broadcast Russian radio from a village in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria on Tuesday (26 April), prompting Moldova’s president to convene an urgent security meeting.
The Moldovan authorities are sensitive to any sign of growing tensions in Transnistria, an unrecognised Moscow-backed sliver of land bordering southwestern Ukraine, especially since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Russia has had troops permanently based in Transnistria since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Kyiv fears the region could be used as a launch pad for new attacks on Ukraine.
“In the early morning of 26 April, two explosions occurred in the village of Maiac, Grigoriopol district: the first at 6:40 and the second at 7:05,” Transnistria’s interior ministry said.
Blasts hit Soviet-era radio antennae in breakaway Moldovan region, authorities say https://t.co/1B37lQ214c Sounds like false flag
— Georgi Gotev & EURACTIV.bg (@GeorgiGotev) April 26, 2022
No residents were hurt, but two radio antennae that broadcast Russian radio were knocked out, it said.
The explosions followed blasts a number of blasts that local television reported on Monday hit Transnistria’s ministry of state security in the regional capital, Tiraspol. Local officials said the building had been fired on by unknown assailants with grenade launchers.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Tuesday called for a meeting of the country’s Supreme Security Council in response to the incidents.
“The Supreme Security Council will meet from 1300 (1000 GMT) at the Presidency. After the meeting, at 1500, President Maia Sandu will hold a press briefing”, the president’s press office said in a statement.
On Monday, the Moldovan government said the Tiraspol blasts were aimed at creating tensions in a region it had no control of.
Last week, a senior Russian military official said the second phase of what Russia calls its “special military operation” included a plan to take full control of southern Ukraine and improve its access to Transnistria.
Moldova puts its hope in EU membership, although it has not followed Ukraine and Georgia in demanding NATO accession. Most of Moldovans speak Romanian and Russian, and reportedly half of them have obtained Romanian passports.
(Edited by Georgi Gotev)