Diplomat Chaly comments on preparations for 'congress' in Russian-occupied Transnistria

He said this on Espreso TV.

"It's not about weapons, or the amount of equipment or personnel, and they, those who are there, will not be able to counteract militarily. With any kind of involvement, destabilization is a very bad story, although it can really lead to the fact that the war will no longer be a war, the defense of one country, Ukraine, and maybe Moldova will be involved, and then we will see. In other words, Putin can raise the stakes, show escalation and threaten even more, and the Kremlin can do it," the diplomat said.

According to him, there is nothing good in the development of such a situation, which Russia has already experienced with unrecognized Transnistria.

"There is nothing good in this type of congress, especially in the international legal status - this is the occupied territory of Moldova. These people, you know why they started all this? They want to get improvements in their economic issues, because Moldova had worse conditions than Transnistria, which they have now equalized, and these people are outraged - how can we earn less of our corrupt money. They want to scare us that Putin will come if we don't deduct our corruption profits now. But I don't know how this will end up on the part of the Kremlin, the Kremlin can take advantage of this," the former Ukrainian ambassador to the United States emphasized.

Chaly explained that these events in the self-proclaimed Transnistrian Moldovan Republic are being controlled by Russia: "They have no independent decisions. What does this mean in practical terms? Our Main Intelligence Directorate has reassured us with information, but I hope that, as they say, appropriate preparations are being made on the ground and we have to be careful, because we are actually at war."

• Moldovan President Maia Sandu recently suggested the possibility of Kremlin interference in the presidential elections, which Chisinau has scheduled for the fall of 2024.
• A "congress of deputies of all levels" is scheduled for February 28 in Tiraspol. The so-called Transnistrian politicians do not hide the fact that the congress will discuss Russia.