The Moldovan authorities blocked Russian peacekeepers from reaching Transnistria. Local police began to detain military personnel who were getting to the contingent location

Peacekeeping post in Moldova. Archive photo (Photo: RIA Novosti)

Chisinau Airport remained the only legal opportunity for Russians to get to Transnistria after the Verkhovna Rada’s decision to denounce the agreement on the transit of military personnel and military cargo from Russia through the territory of Ukraine. However, as the Kommersant newspaper reports , in the last two weeks alone, three Russians, including a contract sergeant, were detained at the Chisinau airport and later deported to their homeland.

According to the publication, since October 2014, about a hundred military personnel - Russian citizens - have been deported from Moldova.

In Chisinau they claim that they are ready to let the peacekeepers through if Moscow gives a month’s notice of their arrival. Moldova places those who arrive without warning on the “undesirable” list. The country's Foreign Ministry transmitted the corresponding statement to Moscow through diplomatic channels.

Video: RBC

Moldova does not recognize the limited group of Russian troops (OGRF) located in Transnistria as peacekeepers, insisting on their withdrawal from the unrecognized republic. At the same time, attempts by soldiers to enter Transnistria under the guise of peacekeepers cause discontent in Chisinau. The latest scandal was associated with Colonel Dmitry Zelentsov, who decided to avoid problems when crossing the border and introduced himself as a peacemaker, however, upon arriving in Transnistria, he headed the OGRF.

The number of OGRF in Transnistria is about 1,000 people, while the peacekeeping battalion in the unrecognized republic consists of 412 people. OGRF also guards warehouses with Soviet weapons, the removal of which Moldova has been insisting on since the late 1990s.

Moldova restricted Russian soldiers' access to Transnistria