1h 46m ago
The president of ex-Soviet Moldova has warned Russia against any attempt to annex his country’s separatist Transdniestria region in the same way that it has taken control of Crimea in Ukraine.
During a trip to Moscow, the speaker of Transdniestria’s separatist parliament, Mikhail Burla, yesterday urged Russia to incorporate his mainly Russian-speaking region, which split away from Moldova in 1990, one year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
President Nicolae Timofti said today that Russia would be making a “mistake” if it agreed to the request:
This is an illegal body which has taken no decision on inclusion into Russia. I believe that Burla’s actions are counter-productive and will do no good for either Moldova or Russia. And if Russia makes a move to satisfy such proposals, it will be making a mistake.
The separatist region fought a brief war with Moldova in 1992 and it declared itself an independent state, but it remains unrecognised by any country, including Russia, which has 1,500 troops stationed there.
A referendum in Transdniestria in 2006 produced a 97.2% vote in favour of joining Russia, an even higher score than in Crimea’s referendum. Unlike Crimea, however, it is located far from Russia. It shares a border with Ukraine.
Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries, has been governed by pro-Western leaders since 2009. It has clinched an association agreement with the European Union, as currently sought by the pro-western leaders who came to power in Ukraine after the removal of Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovych.
2h 5m ago
Russian troops have attempted to storm a Ukrainian military base in Simferopol, according to NBC’s Ed Flanagan.
Shots fired as russian forces storm
#Ukraine military base in
#Simferopol. 3-4 short bursts of gunfire. UNCONFIRMED reports of men wounded
— Ed Flanagan (@edmundflanagan)
March 18, 2014
Entrance to base. Earlier heavily armed soldiers seen running around front before shots fired
pic.twitter.com/aG31fOJ8nI
— Ed Flanagan (@edmundflanagan)
March 18, 2014
Police moved bystanders off road away from
#Ukrainemilitary base entrance.Small groups of Russian soldiers moving up
pic.twitter.com/AZA6vNyOEo
— Ed Flanagan (@edmundflanagan)
March 18, 2014
Silence since initial shots fired. Around 15 we believe russian soldiers carrying shotguns,close quarter riot shields and ak-47s stormed in
— Ed Flanagan (@edmundflanagan)
March 18, 2014
2h 22m ago
Turkey has reportedly threatened to close the Bosphorus to Russian ships, if there is violence against the Crimean Tatars.
In his speech today,
President Putin was at pains to stress that the rights of Tatars, persecuted and deported from Ukraine in the Stalin-era, would be protected.
Citing a diplomatic source, the Sofia news agency says that Turkey’s prime minister Recep Erdogan made the threat in a telephone conversation with Putin.
Erdogan also said that Turkey would not recognise the referendum in Crimea in which 97% of the voters cast their ballots in favour of joining the Russian Federation, according to the report.