Former Moldovan defence minister reveals Kremlin's plans for Transdniestria

Former Moldovan Defence Minister Anatol Salaru said:

The Russian Federation wants to expand its military base in Transnistria and open air gates for the military to fly into Chisinau. The aim was to take over Moldova militarily, but as Ukraine has stood up and given a decent fight - they had to change plans, they decided to destabilise the situation already in another way, we knew about this already last August, when I was in Kiev, I was told that destabilisation was being prepared in autumn, they did not succeed.

At the same time, Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said that Russia does not have the resources to go to war with Moldova:

Russia does not have the resources to escalate. It is also clear that Russia cannot invade Moldova militarily. On the other hand, Moldova has enough capacity to cope with a possible escalation in Transnistria. And the Transnistrian region, like us, seeks peace and stability.

The Moldovan prime minister also said that his country is largely protected by Ukraine's air defence system.