The leadership of Transdniester has called on Russia to take measures to "protect" the breakaway region from what it said was increasing pressure from Moldova's pro-Western government that amounted to an "economic war."
The call was launched during a rare gathering on February 28 in Tiraspol of the separatist region's leadership summoned by separatist leader Vadim Krasnoselski and dubbed the Congress of the Transdniestrian People's Deputies.
It followed speculation that Transdniester, whose declaration of independence more than 30 years ago was not recognized by any legitimate state, might officially ask for "unification" with Russia a day ahead of President Vladimir Putin's February 29 annual address to Russian lawmakers.
The gathering, however, stopped short of asking that Transdniester become part of the Russian Federation and listed a long litany of complaints addressed first of all to Moscow but also to international organizations about Moldova's alleged pressure and violations of the separatists' rights.
"The Congress is asking the Russian Duma and the Federation Council (the upper chamber of Russia's parliament) to implement measures to protect Transdniester in the face of the increasing pressure that applied by the Republic of Moldova," the gathering said in its final statement, also claiming that more than 220,000 Russian citizens live in the separatist region.
Moldova's government rejected what it said where "propaganda statements" coming from the meeting. Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Serebrian said on Telegram that the Transdniester region benefits from “the policies of peace, security, and economic integration with the European Union, which are beneficial for all citizens.”
Chisinau declared before the start of the event that "all the discussions in Tiraspol are a scam."
Moldovan government spokesman Daniel Voda said the meeting itself and its demands were "obviously organized by those from the Kremlin to create hysteria, including in the mass media."
President Maia Sandu said earlier that Moldova is determined to resolve the "frozen" Transdniester conflict peacefully and that "small steps" are being taken for the economic reintegration of the region.
A day before the separatists' meeting, U.S. envoy Christopher Smith visited Tiraspol and spoke with Krasnoselski, who told Smith that Chisinau would put economic pressure on the region. Smith, who is deputy secretary in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, met with Moldovan government officials before going to Tiraspol.
The latest tensions between Chisinau and Tiraspol broke out after Moldova, which under Sandu was invited in 2022 to open membership negotiations with the European Union, slapped new import and export duties on Transdniester in January, prompting protests by the separatist leadership.
The trade duties were introduced as part of Chisinau's move to align itself with EU legislation as it prepares for accession talks with the 27-member bloc.
Mainly Russian-speaking Transdniester, a sliver of land on the eastern bank of the Dniester River between Moldova proper and Ukraine, declared independence in 1990 amid fears that Chisinau would seek reunification with Romania, with which it shares a common language and history.
The two sides fought a short but bloody war in the spring of 1992 that claimed more than 1,000 lives and was quashed by Russian troops stationed in Transdniester since Soviet times, who intervened on the side of the separatists.
Half-hearted attempts at negotiations under various mediation formats, including ones led by the Organization or Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Union, yielded no result, turning the dispute into a decades-long frozen conflict.
The February 28 statement issued after the meeting in Tiraspol called on the EU, the OSCE, and the United Nations to "prevent Moldovan pressures" and relaunch negotiations, although neither Tiraspol nor Moscow has been interested in fresh talks for years.
Russia still keeps more than 1,000 troops in Transdniester who ostensibly keep the peace between the two sides and guard a huge Soviet-era weapons depot in the village of Cobasna.
"The problem of Moldova and [Transdniester] is not a new one and the threat of Russian intervention or at least some provocation there is something permanent. I am not surprised. But it shows how dangerous the situation is not only for Ukraine," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
Moscow has been the sole economic backer of Transdniester, largely seen as a smugglers' haven. Many residents of Transdniester have also obtained Moldovan citizenship, which allows them to travel unhindered in the EU.