CHISINAU, January 19. /TASS/. Moldova claims that Russian peacekeepers committed violations during their exercise in the Transnistrian security zone, the Bureau of Reintegration of the government of Moldova said after the meeting of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) for the peacekeeping operation.

"The Moldovan delegation called for investigation of these violations and for development of new exercise rules, which would rule out illegal actions, […] citing the exercise, carried out the military contingent of the Russian Federation peacekeeping forces on December 22, 2023," the Bureau said.

The agency published the statement of the Moldovan delegation to the JCC, in which it claimed that the exercise took place at peacekeeper posts outside of deployment areas with use of combat weapons and vehicles. The Moldovan side also stated its concerns over the use of drones, which, according to Chisinau, were not declared as weapons of the contingent. In addition, representatives of Russia and Transnistria were accused of obstructing the exit of a group of military observers for registration of the violations.

Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the zone of combat operations in Transnistria in late July of 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, and a team of Ukrainian military observers.

Apart from that, the Russian military is tasked to ensure the security of depots in Cobasna that hold 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.

Meanwhile, Chisinau insists on the withdrawal of the Russian group of forces and calls for replacing the peacekeepers with a civilian mission under an international mandate. However, Tiraspol recalls that back in 1992 such a mission had failed to prevent an armed conflict, as more than 1,000 lives were lost and tens of thousands were wounded.