22 May 2026
(PHOTOS: Word and Deed)
The decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on the simplified admission of residents of the Transnistrian region of Moldova to Russian citizenship has drawn attention to this region.
Theaccent has found out whether such a step could be dangerous for Ukraine and why Putin would want to do this.
For example, political scientist, PhD in Philosophy Oleksandra Reshmedilova believes that the Russian Federation is likely to pursue several goals. Well, in addition to destabilizing the problems of inconvenience and additional triggers for Ukraine and Moldova, she can see another important advantage for herself. This is getting an additional mobilization resource among the residents of Transnistria.
Why does the Russian Federation need this? Well, to begin with, in order to block Moldova's European integration, to make it a permanent pulsating wound, not only for Moldova, but also for Ukraine. Because this is still a certain destabilization in the southern region, and we can assume that the idea of a certain corridor to the Black Sea, which the Russian Federation is trying to create for itself as a way out of our territory, is still relevant.
Oleksandra Reshmedilova
Denys Zeynalov, a political scientist and international expert, noted that Russia is not inventing anything new in this case. It already resorted to this in 2008 in Georgia and in Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine on the eve of the invasion.
It is worth emphasizing that two days before Putin signed this decree, the State Duma passed a law that de facto allows Putin to use the armed forces of Russia unilaterally, without the permission of the State Duma, in countries with a large number of Russian citizens to protect Russians, whatever the wording used there. Obviously, these processes are interconnected and go in the same direction, in the same line, in the same vector in the context of further aggressive and hybrid threats and the hybrid war that Russia is waging. Why was this done? First, as of now, there are approximately 220 thousand Russian citizens living in the so-called Transnistria. This is a very large number.
Denys Zeinalov
The expert believes that in this way, Putin is trying to force new Russians to become liable for military service, as well as to have a kind of mishap belli in case he decides to conduct any operations in the future. In addition, this may force Ukraine to maintain significant military forces here that it will not be able to use at the front.
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