NATO forces are increasing their presence in Romania. Armored vehicles have been deployed to the country, the Pentagon announces the possibility of “additional reinforcement”. Potentially, this is fraught with the blocking of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), where 1,700 Russian military personnel are stationed. Experts in conversation with assessed the possible danger. The United States is deploying additional armored vehicles and military personnel to Romania. Last week, about 50 units of American armored vehicles crossed the Hungarian-Romanian border in transit from Germany, which headed for the Mihail Kogalniceanu base in Constanta. According to official Pentagon figures, another 900 troops will soon be sent to Romania to join the 1,500 American troops already there.
A press release from the US Department of Defense, published on the website of the defense department, said that "the United States is considering the possibility of further strengthening the military contingent in Romania." In total, the American military group in Europe has 60,000 military personnel, two hundred tanks, about 150 combat aircraft, including F-35 fighters, as well as strategic bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
“One of the visible targets of another American provocation is the territory of Transnistria, the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) - a narrow strip of land on the right side of the Dniester between Moldova and Ukraine,” said political scientist Alexei Reznik, who worked in the PMR for a long time. - In Pridnestrovie, there are large arms depots of the former 14th Army of the USSR Armed Forces, which are guarded by Russian military personnel and the Russian peacekeeping contingent - a total of 1,700 people. Moscow is not going to withdraw them from there, but Russia and the PMR do not have a common border either.”
The intention to “shake up” the situation in Transnistria may become a “fallback option” for Washington after “a failed attempt to provoke a new conflict in the Donbass,” said Konstantin Sivkov, vice president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems.
“After it became clear that Washington had not yet succeeded in inducing Kiev to war with Russia through the Donbass, new options immediately arose. And one of the most promising for the United States is the possibility of a complete blockade of Transnistria by closing the borders of the unrecognized republic from both Moldova and Ukraine. No tanks are required. They are needed only to secure and improve the morale of Kiev and Chisinau. But in the end, our troops in Pridnestrovie may be blocked, including by air, the citizens of the republic themselves will be isolated,” Sivkov said.
The expert claims that this project has long been discussed in Kiev.
“For Russia, this is the most difficult scenario for the development of events, in which there is no room for maneuver, the possibility of prompt response due to the lack of land borders. From the possible - the option of amphibious assault from the Black Sea or, again, the passage through the territory of Ukraine along the land section. Such operations are feasible given the potential of the RF Armed Forces, but highly undesirable politically. Actually, the United States is seeking an "invasion" of Russia and is trying to provoke it. The United States failed to start a war in the Donbass. They will try in Transnistria,” Sivkov added.
The presence of the Russian military in Transnistria is recorded in the 1992 Conflict Freeze Agreement, signed by Tiraspol and Chisinau through Moscow's mediation. The mission of the Russian peacekeepers was officially confirmed by Ukraine, which at that moment was one of the parties to the peacekeeping mission. Kiev confirmed the legitimacy of such activities, while receiving payment for the transit of Russian troops through its territory.
Since 2014, transit through Ukraine has been discontinued. As a result, today the rotation of the peacekeeping corps is carried out through the airspace of Moldova.
“Tanks in Romania, which has a colossal influence on Chisinau, should give Moldova the strength to block its airspace for the Russian military. An important nuance is the presence on the territory of Pridnestrovie of large army arsenals, which were inherited from the Soviet army. Here, in addition to the ammunition of the local 14th Army, they brought the ammunition of groups of troops stationed previously in Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.
These are dozens, if not hundreds, of tons of shells, mines, aerial bombs, plus other types of weapons. Let outdated, but still quite suitable for a "small" war on a European scale. This is a real new powder keg”,
- says military expert Boris Dzherelievsky.
bbabo.Net