CHISINAU, February 28. /TASS/. Peacekeepers in the security zone along the Dniester report no military preparations either in Moldova or in Transnistria, Oleg Belyakov, Transnistria’s co-chair of the joint control commission for the peacekeeping operation management, said on Tuesday.
"We are analyzing mass media reports, data received during communication with administration head, people living in these areas, with law enforcement officers, data about the situation in military units. There are no preparations for combat operation either in Moldova or in Transnistria. There is no aggravation of the situation in the security zone as such," he said in an interview with the First Transnistrian television channel.
Earlier, the concentration of Ukrainian troops on the border with Transnistria caused serious public concern. According to the Russian defense ministry, Kiev was plotting a provocation against Transnistria to create a pretext for an invasion. Tiraspol expressed concern over the urgent mobilization of the Moldovan army. Chisinau refuted these reports, reiterating its commitment to the peaceful settlement of the Transnistrian issue.
Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the zone of combat operations in Transnistria in late July 1992 under an agreement on peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in Moldova’s Transnistrian region. The move helped stop the confrontation between the Moldovan police and Transnistrian militias. Currently, peace in the region is being maintained by Russian, Moldovan and Transnistrian peacekeepers.
Apart from that, a Russian group of forces of around 1,000 soldiers and officers is deployed to the region to ensure the security of depots holding more than 20,000 tons of munitions that were put in storage there after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from European countries. A weapons and munitions withdrawal and disposal campaign started in 2001, but in 2004 the Transnistrian authorities cut it short following a deterioration in relations with Moldova. These troops are also supporting the peacekeepers who have found themselves literally under blockade after Ukraine blocked logistics routes through its territory.