MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. Moldovan President Maia Sandu is planning a military operation in Transnistria, and no one can guarantee that she will not attempt to start a war, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said in a statement made available to TASS.
According to the SVR, the Moldovan president recently convened a meeting on energy security issues with senior government officials. "At the end of the meeting, Sandu emphasized the need to organize a military operation to take control of Transnistria and end Russia’s peacekeeping presence in the region," the statement reads.
"The European Union certainly would not mind if another crisis emerged in the area of Russia’s direct interests. However, Brussels is not ready for it yet. Besides, it’s close to the EU border, which is dangerous. However, no one can guarantee that the Moldovan president won’t actually try to start a real conflict in the region," the SVR added. "Many observers wonder how much longer the Moldovan people, many of whom have in fact been through military operations on the Dniester River in 1992 and remember them well, will endure the experiments that Sandu, a Romanian national, is carrying out with them," the document notes.
Chisinau’s intentions
The SVR pointed out that "the EU leadership can think of no way to calm down the emotionally unstable Moldovan president." At the above-mentioned meeting, the president lost her composure after listening to Prime Minister Dorin Recean’s report about the energy issues that Moldova could face after the Russia-Ukraine gas transit agreement expires on December 31.
"She flatly refused to discuss the issue with Ukraine and unequivocally put all the blame on Russia. According to Sandu, Chisinau will seek retribution on the pro-Russian Transnistria unless Moscow finds a way to deliver gas," the Russian intelligence agency noted. Orders have been issued to launch criminal investigations into the top officials of the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic "on separatism charges" and thoroughly search common Transnistria residents crossing the region’s border.
The SVR also said that "even the reminder that Moldova’s right-bank part almost fully depends on electricity supplies from the Cuciurgan power station located in Transnistria did not deter the president." "Having flown into a rage, the president demanded that preparations be made for a military takeover of the power plant," the SVR remarked.