Four years into the war in Ukraine, in a context of extremely grave regional security, Russia’s interest is to prolong and extend the war. One of the dangers for Romania is Transnistria, a separatist territory of the Republic of Moldova, controlled by the Kremlin.
Zina hosts one of the largest Soviet ammunition depots in Europe, in the town of Cobasna. The former Moldovan Minister of Defense stated for Antena 3 that the current situation in the region cannot be understood without the historical context of the emergence of this separatist entity.
“To understand the role of Transnistria, we must understand its emergence. Since 1924, Stalin, when he created the Moldovan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. He created it with the purpose of sabotaging and threatening Greater Romania and creating an anti-Romanian bridgehead here, in the ribs of Greater Romania. Subsequently, the recreation of this territorial structure by Russia in the ’90s and including the war in Transnistria that began in 1992 – the Russo-Moldovan war – had, in turn, several very large purposes.
The first is to keep the Republic of Moldova in Russia’s control zone, creating this exclave, with a strong Russian military presence and a heavily militarized Tiraspol; creating internal problems in the Republic of Moldova and, moreover, blocking the intention of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, at the beginning of the ’90s, to reunite with Romania,” said Șalaru.
According to the former official, the role of Transnistria has always been to keep the Republic of Moldova in Russia’s sphere of influence and to keep it under control, through energy blackmail. Șalaru also believes that, although the region does not pose a direct military threat to the North Atlantic Alliance, the situation can change quickly.
“From a military point of view, Transnistria, today, does not pose a direct threat to NATO and the European Union. However, it can become very dangerous when Russia manages to install in Chisinau an obedient government, a pro-Russian government, which would open the air borders of the Republic of Moldova, to bring as many Russian military personnel to Transnistria and to consolidate a bridgehead in this area.
Also, Transnistria, in case Russia manages to consolidate in the Republic of Moldova, can increase its military presence and pose a danger to Ukraine, to NATO’s eastern flank and to the European Union, but primarily to Romania”, considers Anatol Șalaru.
Speaking about the depot at Cobasna, Șalaru specified that it is not known exactly how much ammunition is currently stored there, as part of the weaponry has been sold on the black market or has been used by those in Transnistria during military applications and exercises. However, the existence of this objective is a pretext for Russia to illegally maintain its troops in the region.