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CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Pro-Russian separatists in a breakaway region of Moldova have put their army on alert, claiming they fear military action from neighboring Ukraine and Moldova, a local news agency reported Thursday.
The Tiras news agency said that separatists in Trans-Dniester expected military activity starting from Aug. 26, the day before Moldova's independence day, but provided no details. Moldovan authorities accused separatists of trying to escalate tensions.
Trans-Dniester, a narrow strip of land squeezed between Ukraine and Moldova, is a tiny product of the fracturing of post-Soviet Europe. Russia stationed troops in Moldova in 1990, fearing that Moldova might try to reunite with Romania. The war that broke out in 1992, after Moldova declared its independence from the Soviet Union, left hundreds dead.
Recently, tensions rose after Moldova's pro-European government signed an association agreement with the European Union. Russia retaliated last week by banning Moldovan fruit and some vegetables, an economic blow to the poor, largely agricultural nation of 4 million.
Russia has hinted that 300,000 Moldovan workers in Russia may no longer be welcome, a worrying prospect for a country which gets 30 percent of its GDP from money sent home by people working abroad.
originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: Xcathdra
Think Moldova will do this or do we think its part of a last ditch effort to raise tensions in the region with Russia.
I think the west is the bigger fool for incessantly raising tensions with Russia.
originally posted by: Wookiep
I wish they would knock it off with the term "Pro-Russian separatists". It's time to come out of the closet and just call them Russians already, sheesh.
By raising tensions with Russia do you mean helping Ukraine determine it's own future? And supporting Ukraine in its struggle restoring its own national integrity after Russian interference and an illegal annexation?