Law enforcement in Transnistria

Under a pro-European leadership, Moldova has sought to rid itself of Russian influence, but it won't be easy, especially with Russian soldiers in Transnistria.

President Maia Sandu said after a meeting of Moldova's Supreme Security Council on Tuesday that explosions in Transnistria for two days in a row "show that there are tensions between various forces" that are interested in destabilising the breakaway region, where Russian troops have been based since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Transnistrian Interior Ministry, a Russian-backed separatist territory in the former Soviet republic of Moldova, said two blasts were aimed at a radio center near the Ukrainian border.

"Early in the morning of April 26, two explosions were heard in the village of Mayak in the Grigoriopol district," a statement from the separatist republic's interior ministry said.

By establishing control over southern Ukraine, Russia will secure "another route" to Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria, where Russian troops have been based since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a senior Russian military commander was quoted as saying on Friday.

The US State Department issued a warning on Monday evening for US citizens to leave or not to travel to the Moldovan breakaway region of Transnistria.

The State Department cited "unusual Russian troop movements around [neighbouring] Ukraine and the unresolved conflict between this breakaway region and the central government".

The European Court of Human Rights, ECHR, on Thursday ruled that Russia has violated human rights and the right to freedom and security in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria, which it has de facto controlled since it broke away from Moldova in 1992.

Chisinau says that any move to dispose of the Russian-guarded ammunition cache in rebel Transnistria must be done under international monitoring, not by Russia alone.

The Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) hails the UN General Assembly's resolution on the withdrawal of foreign military forces from the territory of the Republic of Moldova, reads a message on MAE's Twitter account.

Franco Frattini, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office's Special Representative for the Transdniestrian Settlement Process, said on Tuesday that Moldova and breakaway Transnistria must be ready to implement all their bilateral agreements by May as a precursor to possible progress on a Russian troop withdrawal from Transnistria.

Moldova and Romania will form a joint military battalion for emergency situations - a move likely to anger Russia, which has troops stationed in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria.