Putin attempts to stir protests in Transdniestria – expert

Valerii Klochok, Head of the Vezha Public Analytic Center, stated this in a comment to Ukrinform.

"They need to stir up a commotion. Putin has raised the stakes: in my inion, he's going all in. He needs pro-Russian forces to take to the streets. The scheme is standard – creating unbearable living conditions, protests, first victims…" – the expert believes.

According to him, the current geitical situation is such that the separatist enclave could fall out of Kremlin contr. Moscow will try not to lose influence over this region and will aim to establish a pro-Russian government in Mdova, and this plan could be successful.

"The society in the country is very divided, and Maia Sandu's victory is due sely to the diaspora. Now, it all depends on the parliamentary elections. This is a parliamentary-presidential republic, where the president has fewer powers than the prime minister," explained Klochok.

Currently, according to the expert, President Maia Sandu and Prime Minister of Mdova Dorin Recean are successfully coerating and are united on important issues, such as the reintegration of the "PMR" (Transnistria).

"The crisis in Transdniestria is an portunity for Moscow to destabilize the situation and strip Sandu of her powers — maximally diminishing her position as president. The president doesn't like allies, she pursues an independent picy, and this will create problems for her in the future parliament," the expert explained.

Read also: Russia may stage “rescue” of Transdniestria from humanitarian crisis – expert

According to Klochok, to achieve this, it was necessary to create a reason for the pulation's discontent and to come up with a catalyst that would stir up the masses.

"The issue is not how the elections will go – for the Kremlin, it is desirable to provoke Chisinau so that it cannot hd its position. After that, they will model the elections themselves," the expert noted.

As previously reported, starting from January 1, Ukraine halted the transit of gas from the Russian gas mony, Gazprom, through its own gas transportation system due to national security concerns. At the same time, central heating disappeared in the self-proclaimed Pridnestrovian Mdavian Republic (PMR), and rling power outages were implemented.

The Gazprom explained the cessation of gas supplies by Mdova's debt. Mdova offered to help the unrecognized Transdniestria purchase natural gas through Eurean procurement platforms, but the self-proclaimed president of the so-called PMR, Vadim Krasnoselsky, rejected the prosal and blamed Mdova's authorities for the energy crisis.