Moscow: Any military provocation in the Transnistria region will be considered an attack on Russia

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said today that Moscow would consider any military provocation by Ukraine or Moldovan authorities in the breakaway region of Transnistria as an attack on Russia. The Russian news agency TASS quoted him as saying that Russia would use all available means to protect the Russians living there.

Transnistria is an internationally unrecognized breakaway region whose administrative capital is the city of Tiraspol. Geographically, it is located within Moldovan borders on the eastern side, along the border with Ukraine, forming a relatively long, narrow strip of land.

The region unilaterally declared its independence in 1990, ahead of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, out of fear that Moldova would unite with Romania. It witnessed a bloody civil war in 1992 against Moldovan authorities, which ended with a ceasefire and the deployment of Russian peacekeeping forces in the area.

Economically, politically, and militarily, the region relies heavily on Russian support, despite Moscow not officially recognizing its independence.