Russia has accused Ukraine of planning to invade Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria, which borders Ukraine, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Thursday, citing the Defence Ministry.

According to the report, the ministry said Kyiv was planning to carry out an armed operation “under a false flag” in Transnistria in the near future.

The ministry added that Ukrainian soldiers and the Ukrainian Azov regiment were looking to stage an invasion by allegedly Russian troops and use it as a pretext for the invasion without providing evidence of such plans.

It said Moscow was ready to respond to any change on the border between Ukraine and Transnistria.

Russia, which invaded neighbouring Ukraine on February 24, 2022, still has great influence in Moldova, a former member of the Soviet Union, especially in Transnistria.

Russian soldiers have been stationed there since the 1990s.

Last December, Moldova’s secret service accused Russia of planning to invade the tiny country wedged between Ukraine and Romania, possibly sometime between January and April.

Most recently, Moldova’s pro-European President Maia Sandu also warned of possible coup attempts in view of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

International observers also accuse Russia of trying to destabilise the situation in the impoverished country, which aspires to join the European Union.

In August 2022, the Russian Supreme Court declared the Ukrainian Azov regiment, which defended the port city of Mariupol that fell to Russian troops in mid-May, a “terrorist organisation.”

Moscow has repeatedly used the nationalist regiment to justify its invasion of Ukraine and the claim that Ukraine has to be “liberated” of what Russia said was a fascist regime.

On the other hand, international experts agree that nationalists and right-wing extremists make up only a fraction of Ukrainian fighters. 

(dpa/NAN)