CHISINAU, March 25. /TASS/. The Moldovan authorities believe the footage of strikes on a military helicopter in Tiraspol disseminated by Transnistrian TV channels is fake, the press service of the Moldovan Government's Reintegration Bureau reported, citing analysis of the videos provided by media outlets.

"The disseminated materials contain obvious video editing elements, which is evidence of the fact that the fire on the helicopter was caused not by the drone in the footage, but by some other factors. The incident was provoked on purpose in order to create panic and restoke tensions among the people living on both banks of the Dniester River," the statement reads.

On March 17, TV channels distributed a video of a drone strike on an Mi-8MT transport helicopter of the unrecognized Transnistrian republic's armed forces, which was stored at a former military airfield north of Tiraspol near the Ukrainian border. According to the Transnistrian Investigative Committee, the attack was carried out using a first person view (FPV) drone. Experts found various parts of the exploded drone at the scene, all of which were sent for examination.

The Transnistrian Foreign Ministry described the attack as a terrorist act and asked the mediators in the talks between Tiraspol and Chisinau - the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Russia and Ukraine - for help in the investigation. Chisinau was asked to join the inquiry. The same day, the Moldovan government refuted Kiev's involvement in the incident, while Moldovan President Maia Sandu called it a provocation.

Last April, a series of terrorist attacks were carried out in Transnistria. They began with the firing of rocket-propelled grenades at the State Security Ministry building. The antennae of one of the region's largest radio and television centers in the village of Maiac were blown up. Military airfields near Tiraspol and Ribnita, as well as the location of the Transnistrian peacekeeping contingent and the premises of an arsenal near the village of Cobasna, where about 20,000 tons of ammunition are stored, were attacked. The terrorist attacks caused no casualties. Transnistrian President Vadim Krasnoselsky said at the time that the sabotage was organized in Ukraine and also accused Moldovan special services of being involved. The unrecognized republic introduced a maximum terrorist threat level, which was lowered from red to yellow on May 25 last year and is still in effect.