Moldova holds security council meeting after explosions in pro-Russia Transnistria region

Moldovan President Maia Sandu convened the country's security council Tuesday morning for a meeting on recent attacks in the breakaway republic of Transnistria, a strip of land the borders Ukraine, after explosions that damaged the Transnistria Ministry of State Security building on Monday and toppled two powerful Soviet-era radio towers on Tuesday.

The radio towers knocked down Tuesday are in the town of Maiac, about 7 miles from Ukraine's border. They were "the two most powerful AM transmitters in Europe," Bellingcat's Christo Grozev said, "and Russia was using them to cover Ukraine with Russian propaganda."

Nobody claimed responsibility for either attack, and nobody was injured, but Russia has about 1,500 "peacekeeper" troops stationed in Transnistria and a senior Russian military official said last week that Russian forces seek to conquer all of southern Ukraine to create a land corridor to Moldova. Russia backs Transnistria, but no other country recognizes its independence, declared after a 1990-92 war.

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Moldova's Office for Reintegration Policy suggested Monday's suspected rocket-propelled grenade attack at the separatist security agency was intended to "create pretexts for straining the security situation in the Transnistrian region, which is not controlled by the constitutional authorities." Ukraine, which has been concerned that Russia will use the region to attack Odessa, called Monday's blasts a "planned provocation" by Russian security services.