In the unrecognized Transnistria, explosions have been heard for the second day in a row, no one takes responsibility for them. The President of Moldova convened a meeting of the country’s security council, the Transnistrian authorities announced some terrorist attacks. Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia two months ago, calls what is happening a provocation. Transnistria was mentioned earlier by a Russian general, talking about the further development of the Russian invasion.

The day before, explosions were heard in Tiraspol, the capital of a separatist region in Moldova. And on Tuesday, early in the morning, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the unrecognized republic announced the explosion of two huge radio antennas inherited by Pridnestrovie from the USSR. Photos confirm this.

Antennas have been used so far – for relaying Russian radio stations, follows from the statement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

“In the early morning of April 26, two explosions thundered in the Mayak village of the Grigoriopol region: the first at 6:40, the second at 7:05,” the Twitter message says. “Two of the most powerful antennas have been disabled: one is a megawatt, the second is a half-megawatt. Both relayed radio of the Russian Federation,” the statement on the agency’s website says .

The Pridnestrovian Ministry of Internal Affairs did not put forward versions of who could have committed the explosion. Another tweet gives only a historical note: “PRTC is the Pridnestrovian radio and television center. This is one of 14 radio transmitting centers of the former USSR. The signal from the PRTC can be relayed to the USA, the Middle East and Latin America. The radio center was built in the late 60s” .

There were no versions even the day before, when the explosions took place in the center of Tiraspol. An Interfax correspondent reported that the premises of the building of the Ministry of State Security (MGB) of Transnistria were damaged there. According to him, the shooting was carried out from RPG-27 or RPG-22 grenade launchers. There were no victims either the day before or now, according to the report of the Transnistrian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Bureau for Reintegration under the Government of Moldova expressed concern about the explosions in Tiraspol the day before. “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 statement said. “The purpose of today’s incident is to create pretexts for aggravating the security situation in the Transnistrian region, which not controlled by constitutional authorities.”

The reaction to the morning explosions on the territory of the radio and television center turned out to be even tougher. Moldovan President Maia Sandu convened the country’s supreme security council, and the Information and Security Service (ISS) of Moldova issued an appeal to citizens. “We call on society to calm down and refrain from disseminating information from unverified sources, especially inciting hatred and war. Given the complexity of the situation, we count on responsibility and critical thinking,” the SIS said in a statement (quoted by Interfax).

Sandu held a briefing on Tuesday afternoon and blamed “opposing forces” inside Transnistria for the bombings. “Our analysis showed that there is tension between various forces within the region interested in destabilizing the situation,” the President of Moldova said. “The escalation of tension has been going on for a long time, over the past weeks there have been numerous reports of bombs in schools and hospitals in the region.”

Kyiv, commenting on the explosions in Tiraspol on Monday, accused Moscow of provocation. “Obviously, this case is one of a number of provocative events organized by the FSB to incite panic and anti-Ukrainian sentiment. According to the authors, they should justify the war on the territory of Ukraine, or involve Transnistria in hostilities. Either as a territory with a certain mobilization reserve, or as a territory from which Russian troops can attack Ukrainian territory,” the main intelligence department of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a press release.

President of the unrecognized Transnistria, Vadim Krasnoselsky, also convened his own security council, at which it was decided to introduce a “red” level of terrorist threat, Interfax writes. TASS reports that the Transnistrian Security Council has confirmed three, not two “terrorist attacks.” Another attack allegedly was on a military unit near Tiraspol, Krasnoselsky’s press service said.

An anonymous Interfax source in Tiraspol claims that on Monday there were two more explosions – on the territory of the “air park of the Ministry of Defense” of Transnistria (there are no casualties or destruction). The shelling of the MGB building, according to him, was allegedly carried out by “three unidentified persons who entered from the territory of Ukraine outside the checkpoints.”

After the bombings, Transnistrian authorities canceled the May 9 Victory Parade.

The Kremlin is closely monitoring the aggravation of the situation in Transnistria, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Journalists asked him if Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to contact Sandu.

“No, at the moment no contacts are planned, there are no such plans. The only thing I can say is that we are very closely monitoring how the situation is developing there. Of course, news from there is coming, which causes concern,” he replied. Peskov. Sandu also said that she had no plans to negotiate with Putin.

The aggravation of the situation in the separatist Transnistria occurred against the background of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has been going on for two months.

Last week, Deputy Commander of the Central Military District Rustam Minnekaev said that “from the beginning of the second phase of the special operation” one of the tasks of the Russian army was “to establish complete control over the Donbass and southern Ukraine.”

“Control over the south of Ukraine is another way out to Transnistria, where there are also facts of oppression of the Russian-speaking population,” General Minnekaev said. Since then, it remains unclear whether his words can be considered the official position of the Russian Ministry of Defense. The Ministry of Defense did not comment on this issue.

Ukraine and Moldovan politicians have long expressed fears that the war could affect Transnistria and Moldova.

Russian Ambassador to Chisinau Oleg Vasnetsov was summoned to the Moldovan Foreign Ministry on Friday to express to him “deep concern about the statements of the Russian military leader” that contradict “the position of the Russian Federation in support of sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

On Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko actually disavowed the words of General Minnekaev, telling reporters that Russia stands for “a peaceful settlement of the Transnistrian problem, while respecting the territorial integrity of Moldova and the special status of this region in its composition.”

“We don’t see any risks,” the deputy minister said.

The situation in the Russian parliament is assessed differently. “What is happening in Transnistria is a provocation with the aim of dragging Russia deeper into hostilities in the region,” head of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs Leonid Kalashnikov told Interfax on Tuesday, commenting on the explosions on the territory of the radio and television center.

A Russian military contingent of about 1,500 people is stationed in Transnistria and has been stationed in the region since 1995 under a ceasefire agreement.

On April 17, the Ukrainian General Staff claimed that in this separatist region of Moldova, Russian specialists allegedly checked the combat capability of individual motorized rifle brigades of the army of the unrecognized republic. They are not ready to fight, the Ukrainian military said.

On Tuesday, the Western Military District of the Russian Armed Forces reported that a task force of Russian troops in Transnistria had conducted exercises to repair weapons and military equipment and transfer them to the summer mode of operation.

BBC Russian Service correspondent Ilya Barabanov on relations between Moldova and separatist Transnistria

After two days of explosions in Transnistria, the situation in this self-proclaimed republic began to closely resemble what happened in the Donbass before February 24th.

On April 22, Major General Rustam Minnekanov, Deputy Commander of the Central Military District, said that the Russian army intends, as a result of the “second phase of the special operation,” to obtain a land corridor to Transnistria, where cases of oppression of the Russian-speaking population are allegedly observed.

Who can oppress him there remains an open question. For almost 30 years, the territory of Transnistria – a narrow strip of land on the left bank of the Dniester – has been living quite autonomously from Moldova, and even more so from Ukraine.

The last hostilities took place there in August 1992, and the Pridnestrovians got along quite peacefully with all their neighbors and traveled, for example, to Moldova to work without any problems.

When the pro-European-oriented forces were temporarily replaced in Chisinau by pro-Russian President Igor Dodon, he met several times with his Transnistrian counterpart Vadim Krasnoselsky and the parties even agreed to open new checkpoints on the Dniester.

In Chisinau over the past 30 years, not a single political force has seriously considered the issue of returning Pridnestrovie by military means, which was stated, among other things, by the current president of the country, Maia Sandu.

Unlike Ukraine, Moldova has not seriously reorganized and rearmed its armed forces, and a joke has long been popular among Moldovan politicians that the most combat-ready part of the country’s army is a military band.

The first weeks of the new war in Chisinau were perceived very nervously, many in Moldovan society feared that in the event of Putin’s rapid success, the Russian army could also occupy Moldova.

The Russian army did not make rapid progress, the troops got stuck in positional battles in the east of Ukraine. Against the background of all this, it is striking that the Pridnestrovian authorities, although they hold alarming meetings of the Security Council and introduce a “red” level of terrorist threat on the territory of the republic, do not make any specific accusations of shelling their territory either to Chisinau or Kyiv.

The situation looks as if Moscow wants to create another hotbed of tension in the post-Soviet space, but the Transnistrian authorities have not yet been given the main “introductory” one: if this republic is drawn into the war, where can its troops be sent? To the west, towards Chisinau, or to the east, towards Odessa?

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