Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Separatist Moldovan region mulls joining Russia

Officials in the separatist Moldovan region of Trans-Dniester have asked Moscow to consider allowing the territory to follow Crimea's example and become part of Russia, the Russian-based ITAR-Tass News Agency reported Tuesday.
The agency said that government bodies in the separatist region had appealed to Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of the Russian legislature, to add a clause to Russian legislation that might offer Trans-Dniester the possibility of accession to Russia. 
At the same time, the unian.info website, based in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, reported that another region of Moldova, Gagauziya, located in the south of the country, had taken steps to create its own army to "defend itself" against the actions of Chisinau, the Moldovan capital. 

Trans-Dniester, though not internationally recognized, has been effectively independent from the government in Chisinau since a brief and bloody war in 1992. As in Crimea, the population of Trans-Dniester is predominantly Russian-speaking and many people there hold Russian passports. Russia maintains more than 1,000 troops in the territory.
In Gagauzia, a referendum was held in February in which an overwhelming majority of voters opted for independence if Moldova chose to enter European Union. Some people believe the Gagauz people, who make up the majority of the population, are descended from the Seljuq Turks.

While both regions appear to be trying to follow Crimea's example, Moldova and Russia are about 500 miles apart, so annexing these regions could prove problematic for Russia.
Still, the actions of these regions highlight a problem prevalent throughout various eastern European countries that were once part of the Soviet Union. When that vast country broke up in 1991, many of those newly independent countries were left with significant Russian-speaking minorities who do not feel integrated in the new political life of the country.
Moldova, a small country sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, has a population of 3.6 million people, nearly 80 percent of whom are ethnic Romanians.
 http://www.aa.com.tr/en/news/302730--separatist-moldovan-region-mulls-joining-russia
18/3/14
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2 comments :

  1. Transdniestria may become part of Russia...

    The Supreme Council of the unrecognized republic of Transdniestria appealed to the State Duma of Russia to provide for the possibility of entering the region in Russia in the Russian legislation. After the events in the Crimean Republic the country is under siege. Ukraine imposed restrictions on travel for Russians in Transnistria through its territory. The border was closed for cargo as well.

    The information was confirmed by Deputy Prime Minister of the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic for International Cooperation, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nina Shtanski. "Russian citizens are not allowed in Transnistria and are not let out. Transnistria is home to nearly 200,000 Russian citizens, and not all of them can travel and leave the country through Moldova. This means that people are locked on both sides," said Nina Shtanski.

    "So far this problem affects only males with Russian passports, but it has affected not only those traveling by road, people are being removed from trains," she added. The Minister said that blocking goods intended for peacekeepers was unacceptable. "Ukraine is not only a guarantor country in the normalization of the relations, but also a member of peacekeeping operations in which it acts as a military observer," said Nina Shtanski...................http://english.pravda.ru/world/ussr/20-03-2014/127139-transdniestria-0/
    20/3/14

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  2. NATO commander warns of Russian threat to separatist Moldova region...

    (Reuters) - NATO's top military commander said on Sunday Russia had built up a "very sizeable" force on its border with Ukraine and Moscow may have a region in another ex-Soviet republic, Moldova, in its sights after annexing Crimea.

    Russia was acting more like an adversary than a partner, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove said, and the 28-nation alliance should rethink the positioning and readiness of its forces in eastern Europe.

    Russian troops, using armored vehicles, automatic weapons and stun grenades, seized some of the last military facilities under Ukrainian control on Saturday in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russian President Vladimir Putin formally annexed the day before.

    Breedlove was one of several Western officials and politicians to warn on Sunday that Russia may not stop there in a crisis that has taken East-West relations lurching back towards the Cold War since pro-Western protests in Ukraine ousted Moscow-allied President Viktor Yanukovich last month.

    "The (Russian) force that is at the Ukrainian border now to the east is very, very sizeable and very, very ready," the NATO commander told an event held by the German Marshall Fund think-tank........http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/23/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSBREA2M09920140323?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
    23/3/14

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