The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) considers accusations of preparing a terrorist attack against the leadership of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) as a provocation. This is stated in the department’s message in Telegram.
“Any statements by representatives of the so-called “Ministry of State Security” of the fake “Pridnestrovian People’s Republic” regarding the participation of the SBU in the preparation of a terrorist attack should be considered only as an orchestrated provocation in the Kremlin” , said the Ukrainian special service.
According to the SBU, Russia wants to “break” the situation in the PMR under its control and accuse Ukraine of it, for which it is spreading “nonsense”. Yet no one in the world believes Moscow and its “satellites”, the Ukrainian department concluded.
On March 9, the Ministry of State Security of Transnistria announced that it had prevented a terrorist attack against the president of the unrecognized republic, Vadim Krasnoselsky, and other senior officials.
According to the Transdniestrian authorities, the attack was being prepared “under the direction” of the SBU. The attackers planned to blow up a Land Rover car in central Tiraspol. It was filled with 8 kg of RDX, screws, nuts and wire.
The Transnistria Investigation Committee reported that two suspects had been arrested. One of them was broadcast on local television. The report indicates that it is Vyacheslav Kisnichan, born in 1979 in Tiraspol. In Transnistria, he was tried for pimping, hooliganism and robbery, and 12 years ago he moved to Odessa. In 2022, Kisnichan, according to Pridnestrovian TV, joined the Ukrainian Territorial Defense, and then “asked” for it in the SBU, from which he received the task of “eliminating the leadership” of the PMR.
Transnistria’s foreign ministry chief Vitaly Ignatiev said the unrecognized republic could appeal to the permanent members of the UN Security Council to draw attention to “this glaring situation”.
“TSV Pridnestrovie” announcement that on March 9 at 8:00 p.m. there will be an “investigative film prepared by the investigative committee on behalf of the president” on the terrorist attack. In addition, Krasnoselsky will address the inhabitants of the unrecognized republic.
Accusations of preparing a provocation in Transnistria
On March 1, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Ukraine was preparing a provocation near Transnistria using radioactive materials. The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, called on international organizations to pay “very high attention” to reports in the Ukrainian media and telegrams that “containers with radioactive substances and inscriptions in English have been delivered to the ports of Odessa region.”
“Ukrainian bloggers expressed fears that we could talk about some components for equipping ammunition and even making a dirty bomb,” she said.
Zakharova also noted that the ports of Odessa in question participate in the “grain agreement”.
In response to these accusations, the official representative of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, tweeted that the information about Ukraine’s receipt of radioactive materials for provocation was false. The Moldovan government, in turn, indicated that “state institutions are monitoring the situation and do not confirm the information disseminated by the Russian side”.
In February, the Russian Defense Ministry made several statements about allegedly prepared provocations by Ukraine and the United States, including with chemicals. In particular, on February 19, the military department reported that Ukraine is going to stage the contamination of the area in the area of one of the dangerous radiation installations which are under the control of Kiev, and blame Russia for this. For this, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, containers with radioactive substances that have arrived in Ukraine from Europe will be used, bypassing customs clearance.
Four days later, on February 23, the Ministry of Defense warned that Ukraine was preparing a “staged invasion” of Transnistria with the participation of servicemen dressed in Russian uniforms. The Moldovan authorities have not confirmed this information.
On February 28, the head of the Russian armed forces’ radiation, chemical and biological defense forces, Igor Kirillov, announced that the United States planned to organize a provocation in Ukraine using toxic chemicals. . According to Kirillov, for this purpose, a train arrived in Kramatorsk, a car loaded with chemicals from which was towed to the territory of the Kramatorsk Metallurgical Plant. Kuibyshev.
Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly refuted Russian authorities’ claims of possible provocations.
