Moldova’s Rebel Region Appeals to Putin as Its Leverage Slips

  • Pro-Kremlin Transnistria cites economic squeeze from Moldova
  • Region shares border with Ukraine and hosts Russian garrison

Tiraspol, Moldova.

Photographer: Anton Polyakov/Getty Images
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Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria called on Moscow to come to its aid in a standoff with the central government, as pro-European President Maia Sandu’s administration attempts to reassert its control over the Russian-speaking enclave.

The plea for help from Russia was made at a congress convened Wednesday in Tiraspol, the Transnistrian capital, in response to what the self-proclaimed administration says is economic coercion by the Moldovan government.