Russia wants to deploy 10,000 troops in Transnistria - the separatist Moldovan region on the border with Ukraine, and seeks to establish a pro-Kremlin government in Moldova to implement its plans, the country's Prime Minister Dorin Recan said in an interview with the “Financial Times“, BNR reported.
Moscow has a small number of troops in Transnistria, which has been controlled by separatists in a frozen conflict for 33 years. However, with the conclave landlocked between Ukraine and a pro-European government in Moldova, Russia is currently unable to send more troops there.
However, Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recan told the Financial Times that Russia was interfering in the country’s upcoming parliamentary elections in September in the hope that a more friendly future government would allow it to deploy more troops. “This is a huge effort to undermine Moldovan democracy,” said Recan, who added that the government was fully focused on Moldova’s bid to join the EU.
He explained that Moscow’s interference efforts included online propaganda and making illegal money transfers to parties and voters, adding that Russia had spent the equivalent of 1% of Moldova’s GDP on influence campaigns in 2024. "You can imagine with 10,000 soldiers what the leverage and pressure would be on the south-west of Ukraine. But also close to Romania, which is a NATO member state," Recan pointed out. The Kremlin did not respond to a request for comment from the Financial Times.