SVR Accuses EU, NATO of Seeking to "Occupy Moldova"

(MENAFN) The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) on Tuesday alleged that the European Union harbors plans "to occupy Moldova" and to station a NATO "task force" in Ukraine’s Odesa region "to intimidate Transnistria."

According to a Russian state-run news outlet, both the EU and NATO are "determined to keep Moldova in line with their Russophobic policy," referencing information from the SVR press bureau.

"They plan to do this at any cost, including by introducing troops and de facto occupying the country. At this stage, a concentration of armed forces units from NATO countries is being carried out in Romania near the Moldovan borders," the agency reported.

The statement continued by noting that a NATO "task force" is being assembled for deployment to Odesa with the explicit goal of putting pressure on Transnistria.

"The first group of career military personnel from France and Britain is already in place," it emphasized.

Transnistria—officially called the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR)—is a self-proclaimed republic situated along a narrow stretch of territory between the Dniester River and Moldova’s eastern frontier with Ukraine’s Odesa region.

Although the region is internationally recognized as part of Moldova, it has operated as a de facto independent entity since the short conflict in 1992, maintaining its own administration, armed forces, currency, and passport structure.

Due to its strategic position and the existence of a large, aging Soviet-era weapons cache, Transnistria remains a potential hotspot, particularly within the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

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