US watching Moldova’s Transnistria after separatists ask Russia for help

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Participants attend a mourning ceremony in memory of service members of Transdniestria's guard battalion killed in a military conflict with Moldovan troops on the 31st anniversary of their death in Tiraspol, Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria, March 3, 2023. REUTERS/Vladislav Bachev

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is closely watching the situation in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria after the unrecognized statelet asked Russia for help, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday.

“Given Russia’s increasingly aggressive role in Europe, we are watching Russia’s actions in Transnistria and the broader situation there very closely," Miller said at a press briefing, using the Moldovan name for the region.

"The United States firmly supports Moldova’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, and we continue to encourage Chisinau and Tiraspol to work together and identify solutions to pressing concerns of communities on both sides of the Nistru (river).”



(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Simon Lewis)