Russian authorities want to install a pro-Kremlin government in Moldova, allowing it to station 10,000 troops in the country’s Transnistrian region, Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean told the Financial Times.
Parliamentary elections in Moldova are scheduled for September. According to the prime minister, Russia plans to intervene in them to allow a future more Kremlin-orientated government to expand its military presence in the region.
According to Recean, Russia’s interference includes propaganda on the internet as well as illegal money transfers to parties and voters.
The prime minister explained that the information about Russia’s plans to deploy military personnel in Transnistria was based on intelligence information.
“You can imagine what influence and pressure will be exerted on south-western Ukraine with 10,000 soldiers. But it is also close to Romania, a NATO member state,” the prime minister said.
Transnistria, a Moldovan territory outside Chisinau’s control on the eastern bank of the Dniester River, has leaders in the region’s capital, Tiraspol, who are Moscow-oriented. There are 1,500 Russian military personnel in the region, mostly Moldovan natives with Russian passports. Chisinau considers the presence of Russian military in Transdniestria illegal and demands their withdrawal.