Transnistria: Blasts hit Ministry of Security building in separatist Transnistria near Ukraine
Police in the Moldovan separatist region of Transnistria, where Russia has stationed troops, say several explosions hit the Ministry of State Security building Monday that are believed to be from rocket-propelled grenades.
No injuries were immediately reported in the alleged attack, which took place on the Orthodox Easter Monday holiday in the city of Tiraspol when the building would presumably be more empty than usual. The separatists’ Interior Ministry said on Facebook that some of the building’s windows were broken and that smoke was coming from the structure.
Transnistria, a strip of land with about 470,000 people between Moldova and Ukraine, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops there, calling them peacekeepers, but concerns are high that those forces could be used to invade Ukraine from the west.