CHISINAU, Moldova – Moldovan leaders have denounced as a threat Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer of simplified Russian citizenship for the country’s pro-Russian Transnistria separatist enclave and contemplated measures to counteract it.
Transnistria broke from Moldova in 1990 when it was still a Soviet republic and, despite a brief conflict two years later, has since existed largely in peace alongside the country. A Russian military contingent of some 1,500 troops, which Russia sometimes describes as peacekeepers, separates the two sides and the enclave receives substantial Russian assistance.
Moldova’s government, which seeks to join the European Union by 2030, sees the enclave and the military presence as a means of Moscow exerting influence over its affairs. Last month, the contingent’s commanders were barred from entering Moldova.