De facto authorities in Moldova's Transdniester have pledged not to obstruct the access of voters from the Russian-backed separatist region to polling stations amid concerns that Moscow will attempt to interfere with the two key votes scheduled for October 20.
Moldovans are going to the polls to have their say in a referendum on their impoverished country of 2.5 million people pursuing further integration into the European Union and at the same time decide whether to give Pro-Western President Maia Sandu a second term in office.
Mostly Russian-speaking Transdniester, a narrow stretch of land on the left bank on the Dniester River that borders Ukraine, declared independence in 1990 when Moldova was still a Soviet republic. Following Chisinau's proclaiming its own independence in 1991, the two sides fought a short but bloody war in 1992 that claimed the lives of some 1,000 people.
SEE ALSO: In Fugitive Oligarch's Long Shadow, Free Trips Recruit Hundreds Of Young Moldovans To Love RussiaThe war was quelled by the intervention of Russian troops stationed in the region on the separatists' side. The conflict has remained frozen for the past three decades and Russia still maintains some 1,500 troops in the region despite pledging as far back as 1999 to withdraw them.
Although it does not officially recognize Transdniester's independence, Moscow has been the separatist entity's main political and economic backer.
Central authorities in Chisinau said that separatists responded positively to their call not to "impede the smooth conduct of the elections."
Moldovans from Transdniester who want to vote will have to cross the Dniester River into Moldova proper, where authorities have reserved 30 polling stations only for them.
Separatist authorities initially reacted with fury to Chisinau's refusal to open any polling stations in Transdniester, saying it was proof the Moldovan government was "ignoring" its citizens from the left bank of the Dniester.
The Unified Control Commission -- a trilateral peacekeeping force and joint military command structure from Moldova, Transdniester, and Russia that monitors a demilitarized zone on the border between Moldova and Ukraine, told Chisinau on October 17 that it would ensure the free movement of Moldovan citizens between the two banks of the Dniester on the day of the vote.
The commission statement came after Vadim Krasnoselsky, the de facto leader of Transdniester, said on October 14 that separatist authorities would not obstruct the October 20 election process.
"I assure you that we will allow the free passage of citizens," Krasnoselsky told local journalists.
Under Sandu's government, Moldova secured EU candidate status in 2022 and opened accession talks with the bloc earlier this year after siding with Ukraine following Russia's unprovoked invasion, in a radical U-turn toward the West and away from Moscow's decades-long influence.
The two polls are seen as crucial for the future of the former Soviet republic and come amid a hybrid campaign of disinformation employed by Russia to scare Moldovans away from the European Union and keep them in Moscow's orbit.
On October 17, Moldovan authorities said they uncovered a network of more than 100 people trained in Russia and the Balkans to provoke post-election unrest in the country and made several arrests.
According to a poll by CBS Research published on October 17, Sandu would get nearly 36 percent of the vote.
Out of the other 10 candidates, pro-Moscow Socialist candidate Alexandr Stoianoglo is credited in the poll with some 9 percent of the vote, followed by businessman Renato Usatii, the ex-mayor of Balti, Moldova's second-largest city, with 6.4 percent.
Some 28 percent of those polled said they have not yet made up their mind on who to vote for.
The presidential election will take place simultaneously with a constitutional referendum on Moldova's accession to the EU.
Voters will have to answer with "yes" or "no" to the question, "Do you support amending the constitution in order for the Republic of Moldova to join the European Union?"