Chisinau rejected Ukraine's offer to capture the breakaway region.
Moldavia has turned down the offer to capture its breakaway region of Transnistria by force floated by Kiev, saying that it seeks to reintegrate the self-proclaimed republic only through political means.
The settlement of the Transnistrian issue can only be achieved by political means and only on the basis of a peaceful solution, excluding military and other forcible actions and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldova, according to the country's office for reintegration on Wednesday.
The statement came after remarks made by Alexey Arestovich, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The country was capable of capturing Transnistria should Chisinau request Kiev's help in conquering the breakaway region, according to the official.
He said that we would have managed somehow, but this is the territory of the sovereign Moldova. It could happen only after the appeal of the Moldovan side.
Arestovich's comments received a lot of condemnation in Moscow, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov describing such statements as quite provocative. Over the past few days, the international attention towards Transnistria has been turned towards the country as a result of a number of mysterious incidents. On Monday, Transnistria s Ministry of State Security was attacked by three unknown attackers who fired shoulder-mounted rocket launchers at the building, blowing out its windows and damaging its fa ade.
The attack was followed back to back by explosions at a local broadcasting center on Tuesday morning. The facility had its biggest antennas destroyed, and no one was hurt.
The president of the self-proclaimed republic of Transnistria, Vadim Krasnoselsky, blamed the incidents he described as terrorist attacks on Ukrainian nationals and urged Kiev to investigate the armed groups that had allegedly infiltrated his region.
Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic PMR, is a self-proclaimed state located along a narrow strip of land between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian border in the eastern part of Moldova.
In the early 1990s, the region broke away from Moldova shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The region has close ties with Moscow, with Russian peacekeepers stationed there and a sizable portion of local residents holding Russian citizenship.