UPDATED: Moldova dismisses Russia accusation of Ukraine planning to invade Transnistria

Moldova has dismissed an accusation by Russia’s defence ministry on Thursday that Ukraine planned to invade the breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestria after staging a false flag operation, and called for calm

Earlier, Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine on Thursday of planning to invade Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region after a false-flag operation, the RIA news agency reported.

The ministry said Ukraine planned to stage an attack purportedly by Russian forces from Transnistria as a pretext for the invasion, according to RIA.

Separately, the Tass news agency quoted the Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Galuzin as saying the west had instructed the Chisinau government to stop all interaction with the Moscow-backed Transnistrian administration.

Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, accused Moscow earlier this month of planning a coup to overthrow the government and drag Transnistria into its war.

The mainly Russian-speaking region broke away from the then Soviet Moldova in 1990. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, pro-Russia separatists fought a bloody war with the Moldovan government forces.

Moldova’s leader said on Wednesday she had invited U.S. President Joe Biden to visit the tiny former Soviet republic, whose relationship with Russia is becoming increasingly tense.

Sandu wrote on Facebook that she had extended the invitation during a meeting in Warsaw on Tuesday, at which the White House said Biden had affirmed support for Moldova’s sovereignty. She did not say how Biden had responded.

“I used the opportunity of this meeting to convey to the President of the United States that, in the difficult situation we are in, with a war at the border, we need even more U.S. support to strengthen our economic resilience,” Sandu wrote. “I invited President Biden to pay a visit to our country.”

Sandu has said repeatedly that she fears Russia wants to destabilise Moldova, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas, and accused Moscow last week of plotting to topple Moldova’s leadership, an allegation denied by Moscow.

She has taken a pro-Western stance since being elected president in 2020, and has condemned Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. Under her leadership, Moldova has secured European Union candidate status.

“I conveyed to President Biden that Moldovans want to remain part of the free world, to live safely and to realise their dream of joining the European Union,” wrote Sandu, who also held talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw.

She thanked Biden for U.S. support for Moldova’s economy and democracy, and for assistance in the energy sector.

Sandu made no mention on Facebook of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision on Tuesday to revoke a decree that in part underpinned Moldova’s sovereignty in resolving the future of its Transdniestria region, where Moscow keeps troops.