By Bond Robertson 
Transnistria is often referred to as “the land that does not exist”.
The breakaway republic lies like a long strip east of Moldova, along the border with Ukraine.
The region declared its independence under the name Pridnestrovie at the fall of the Soviet Union, but was not recognized internationally. According to the United Nations, the region belongs to Moldova.
Transnistria has close ties with Russia, which has also had “peacekeepers” inside Transnistria since 2006 — contrary to the wishes of the Moldovan government, according to SNL.
He may have revealed the next target
On Tuesday last week — five days after the Ukraine war, Putin’s ally Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko held a meeting with his security advisers. The map was seen by many as a possible overview of the Russians’ plan for invasion, writes NEWSWEEK.
On the map there were several areas shaded in pink, which could show Russian displacements and areas of attack – current and future.
An arrow stretched toward the Ukrainian city of Odessa, and toward a pink-shaded area in eastern Moldova: Transnistria, writes Aftonbladet.
Many interpreted this as revealing the Belarusian dictator’s plan to stay there.
Possible target: Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko may have revealed Putin’s plan to send troops to Moldova when he met his security advisers last week. Transnistria can be seen as the area shaded in pink at the bottom of the image, along Ukraine’s western border. Photo: EyePress News / Shutterstock / NTB
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important city
The port city of Odessa is of strategic importance, as a significant part of Ukrainian exports and imports go through this port city. According to the NTB office, on Monday morning the city was attacked by Russian forces from the Black Sea.
If Russian forces manage to take the port city, Putin’s plan may be to create some kind of corridor in southern Ukraine, and toward the Moldova and Transnistria borders, he wrote. CNN earlier in March.
Putin captured Crimea, Ukraine’s southernmost peninsula, as early as 2014. Following the invasion on February 24, he also took control of the southern port city of Kherson. Also, in the event of the fall of Odessa, Russian forces would control large parts of southern Ukraine.
increased anxiety
In the town of Varneta in eastern Moldova, which is located only 130 kilometers from Ukrainian Odessa, there is great concern.
– I can’t stop watching. If they take Odessa, they will obviously come here, said Alexander Nikitenko, the mayor of the city. New York timeswho visited the area recently.
The mayor asked if the Russians got here, they would stop here.
Unrecognized: Neither Russia nor the other established states recognized Transnistria as a separate state. The separatist republic has its own flag, with the hammer and sickle being part of the idea. Photo: Diego Herrera / SOPA Images / Shutterstock / NTB
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Republican Senator Marco Rubio spoke this weekend TwitterHe believes that Transnistria will soon dominate the news image.
“Increasing the possibility that Russia will expand its invasion of Ukraine to the breakaway region of Transnistria Moldavia,” he wrote, later followed:
Learn about Transnistria. You will hear more about it soon.
– People are afraid
Like Transnistria, Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine are Russia-backed breakaway republics. Just three days before going to war with Ukraine, Putin recognized the two Ukrainian regions as independent states and ordered “peacekeepers” to enter eastern Ukraine.
In Moldova, fears are now growing that the same will happen to Transnistria – that is, Russia will recognize the region as an independent state, and thus cause for invasion, Aftonbladet wrote.
– People are literally scared. Alexandru Flinci, a former deputy prime minister of Moldova, told the New York Times that many are considering fleeing before becoming refugees themselves.
Denies the bombing of the “No Man’s Land”
– No one is safe
He himself was part of the work to try to incorporate Transnistria as part of Moldova, according to the newspaper.
Flinci told the New York Times that he thinks no European can feel safe right now.
“But of all countries, except for the attacking party, Moldova is the country closest to an act of war,” he added.
Soviet era: The goal in Transnistria was to preserve Soviet-era social order as much as possible, and to make sure the Russian language was not neglected, according to SNL. The photo was taken in 2021. Photo: Shutterstock / NTB
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In June 2018 was adopted United Nations General AssemblyOn the initiative of the Government of Moldova, a Precision which demanded the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops in Transnistria. It did not.
In the predominantly Russian-speaking breakaway republic of Transnistria, statues of Lenin dominate the capital, and in 2006 residents voted for stronger ties with Russia, not Moldova. After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, NATO General Philip Breedlove warned that the small republic It could be Putin’s next target.