Moldovan leaders decry Russian move on citizenship for separatist region
By Alexander Tanas
CHISINAU, May 17 (Reuters) – Moldovan leaders have condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer of simplified Russian citizenship for the country’s pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria as a threat and are considering taking action against it.
Transnistria separated from Moldova in 1990; It was still a Soviet republic at the time, and has existed largely peacefully with the country ever since, despite a brief conflict two years later.
A Russian military contingent of about 1,500 soldiers, whom Russia sometimes describes as peacekeepers, separates the two sides, and the region receives significant Russian aid.
The Moldovan government, which aims to join the European Union by 2030, sees the region and its military presence as a means for Moscow to exert influence over its affairs. Last month, the unit’s commanders were banned from entering Moldova.
Putin issued a decree on Friday allowing Transnistria’s 350,000 residents to obtain Russian passports without meeting residence and other requirements. About half already have Russian citizenship.
“They probably want more people to be sent to the war in Ukraine,” President Maia Sandu, a frequent critic of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, told a conference in Estonia on Saturday.
“This is probably a way to threaten us again, because Russia does not like the actions we are taking regarding reintegration of the economic and financial (sectors). People in the Transnistria region need to think twice.”
He said that since the start of the war, many residents had already obtained Moldovan passports to “feel safer”.
Moldovan Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu said late on Saturday that his government was considering practical actions as calling on the Russian ambassador to complain about Russian drones violating Moldovan airspace had no effect on Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Putin’s offer was equivalent to “Russia designating the Transnistria region as its own.” He said Ukraine and Moldova would work on “joint assessment and joint action.”
Russian Ambassador to Moldova Oleg Ozerov told the state TASS news agency that the move was based on humanitarian grounds due to Moldova’s “increasing pressure on Transnistria”.
He said Moldova’s criticism of the decree amounted to “hypocrisy” because many Moldovans received passports from Moldova’s western neighbor Romania.
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
