(Reuters) – Local security services in the Moscow-backed breakaway Transdniestria region of Moldova said on Thursday they had thwarted an assassination attempt against the region’s leader, Russian state news agencies reported.
It quoted security officials as saying the assassination attempt had been ordered by Ukraine’s intelligence agencies. It was not immediately clear whether they had provided evidence to support the claim.
“The ministry of state security informs about the prevention of a terrorist attack. On the instructions of the Security Service of Ukraine, a crime was being prepared against a number of officials. The suspects have been detained,” the TASS news agency quoted the agency as saying.
A spokesman for the Security Service of Ukraine said the agency leadership was convening on the matter and could comment at a later date.
Transdniestria, a mainly Russian-speaking territory which borders Ukraine, broke from Moldova’s control in 1990, a year before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Last month, Russia accused Ukraine of planning to invade Transdniestria after staging a ‘false flag’ operation there, a claim Kyiv denied. Moldova also rejected Russia’s claim.
Moscow also said it would view as an attack on itself any actions that threatened Russian peacekeepers stationed in Transdniestria.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Gareth Jones)
