Jul 25, 2015

Ukraine amasses up to 7,000 troops on border with Transdniestria — republic leader

Ukrainian border guards watch an automobile at a border checkpoint at Kuchurgan on April 9. (Anastasia Vlasova)

by Systematic

MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/. Ukraine concentrates its armed forces and equips firing points on the border with Transdniestria, from 5 to 7 thousand troops are currently deployed there, head of the unrecognized Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic Yevgeny Shevchuk told the Rossiya 24 TV channel on Friday.

“After the events in Ukraine, we feel the pressure of some negative factors. One of them is the concentration of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the National Guard, reinforcement and expansion in the number of Ukrainian frontier guards along the border, additional equipment of engineering constructions, the digging of trenches… Some firing points are equipped along the border, and substantial amounts of troops are being concentrated – according to our estimates, from 5 to 7 thousand are deployed in close proximity to the border with Transdniestria,” he said.

On May 21, 2015, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada denounced the agreement with Russia on transit of the Russian military personnel and cargo via Ukraine’s territory, and on May 29 head of the Ukrainian State Border Service Viktor Nazarenko told Ukraine’s Channel Five that Russia’s military threat was coming from Transdniestria.

TASS reports additionally:

ODESSA, July 20. /TASS/. Extremists from Ukraine’s ultra-right organization Right Sector have failed to installed a checkpoint at the border with the unrecognized republic of Transdniestria, a spokesman for the southern regional department of the Ukrainian State Border Service said on Monday.

“People who called themselves Right Sector activists arrived at the Timkovo checkpoint at the Ukrainian-Moldovan border late on July 17. They offered their help to border officers to protect the border and counteract contraband. The checkpoint’s commander recommended them to ask permission from a superior body. After that, they unfolded their organization’s flags, took photos with these flags on the backdrop of the checkpoint and left,” the spokesman said.

Right Sector representatives however said Ukrainian customs and border officers “were positive about cooperation” with the organization. […]