MOSCOW: Pro-Russian rebel officials in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria appealed to Russia for “protection” on Wednesday, amid fears the territory could become a new flashpoint in Moscow’s conflict with neighbouring Ukraine.

Russia responded that one of its “priorities” was to protect the thin sliver of land, which has been de facto controlled by pro-Russian forces since the collapse of the Soviet Union but is internationally recognised as part of Moldova.

And Moldova’s government rejected “propaganda statements” from pro-Russian separatists, adding that the region “benefits from the policies of peace, security and economic integration with the European Union”.

At a special congress in the region — only the seventh in its history — lawmakers passed a resolution asking Russia’s parliament to “protect” Transnistria from mounting Moldovan pressure. They said the Moldovan government in Chisinau had unleashed an “economic war” against Transnistria, blocking vital imports in the aim of turning it into a “ghetto”.

“The decisions of the current congress cannot be ignored by the international community,” the breakaway republic’s foreign policy chief Vitaly Ignatiev told the meeting.

“We are talking about an appeal for diplomatic support,” he later told Russian state television. The resolution comes just a day before President Vladimir Putin was set to make an annual address before Russian lawmakers and as Ukraine suffers setbacks on the battlefield.

The separatist territory last held a congress in 2006, when deputies anno­unced a referendum on integrating with Russia. The vote resulted in an overwhelming majority in favour.

The call for help from Moscow has fuelled comparisons with February 2022, when Russian-backed militants in eastern Ukraine called for protection against what they said was relentless attacks and shelling by Kyiv’s forces.

Published in Dawn, February 29th, 2024