Transdniester could welcome Russian missiles
permalinke-mail story to a friendprint versionPublished 15 February, 2010, 13:28

Edited 15 February, 2010, 19:05

The president of the self-proclaimed republic of Transdniester, Igor Smirnov, has said the republic is ready to host a Russian missile defense system if Moscow were to ask.

Propeller However, he denied earlier reports that Transdniester has already sent a request to Moscow to locate such system: “We never requested anything as our armed forces are sufficient,” but added that the republic would not mind hosting Russian Iskander operational-tactical missile bases (SS-26 by NATO classification) to counterbalance US anti ballistic missiles in Romania.

“We have been asking for Russia’s permanent military presence in the republic. We are not against any type of Russian military presence with any kind of armament that is needed to protect the security of the citizens of Transdniester, Russia and Ukraine,” said Transdniester’s President Igor Smirnov on Monday, during his visit to Moscow for talks on bilateral relations.

Earlier in February, NATO member Romania, approved a US plan to deploy American SM-3 interceptor missiles on its territory. The US State Department said that such systems will be in operational readiness in Romania by 2015. Besides this, plans to host American ABMs in Bulgaria are also being discussed. The Russian Foreign Ministry has asked Bulgaria for clarification of its plans by asking a rather rhetorical question: “Why is it that after the Romanian surprise, a Bulgarian one follows?”
Experts’ opinions
Political analyst Mikhail Troitsky, however, thinks that Transdniester made those statements to demonstrate one more time its loyalty to Russia. “Just as how Romania and Bulgaria, by agreeing to locate US missile defense systems, want to develop closer ties with the US, Transdniester wants to get Moscow’s support,” he said. Troitsky also thinks that the president of the unrecognized republic made those statements to strengthen his position in the domestic political battles with the local opposition.

Ruslan Pukhov, director of Center for Analyses of Strategies and Technology, is convinced, Russia will not consider deploying its Iskander facilities in Transdniester, saying, “Even though Transdniester is one of Russia’s allies in the post-Soviet space, Moscow would not deploy its Iskander missiles there. It doesn’t need to, primarily because from my point of view the US ABM’s in Romania in it's current shape don’t pose any threat to Russia’s security.”


Military analyst Vitaly Shlykov thinks, those statements are no more than Transdniester’s desire to tease Moldova and to demonstrate its fidelity to Moscow. “Transdniester is like an elephant in a zoo. Well, who would really ever deploy defense systems in an unrecognized republic? Russia would never do it and wouldn’t jeopardize its good relations with Moldova. I would not even expect an official reaction from Moscow to such a statement. It would be absurd to even comment on such a thing,” the analyst commented.


Reference
The breakaway republic of Transdniester proclaimed its independence from Moldova in 1990. However the international community has not recognized its self-declared statehood, and its relations with Moldova remain tense. However, Transdniester has always retained close ties with Moscow. More than 120,000 of Transndiester’s residents (about a quarter of the whole republic’s population) hold Russian passports.


http://rt.com/Politics/2010-02-15/transdniester-iskander-missile-abm.html