Source: AP/Chabad.MD
The series of explosions that terrified Triaspol, the capital of the Trans-Dniester region in Moldova, caused images of thousands of people seeking to flee the region for fear of being the next target of Russian President Putin – as part of his attempts to seize southern Ukraine bordering the rebel-held Moldovan region.
Trans-Dniester, a strip of land with about 470,000 people, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops in the breakaway region, nominally as peacekeepers.
The Security Council of Trans-Dniester on Tuesday reported there had been a total of three incidents in the region — explosions in Tiraspol on Monday, the ones in Maiac on Tuesday and damage to a military unit in the village of Parcani.
Officials did not offer any details on the military unit incident, but declared “a red level of terrorist threat” and promised to impose additional security measures in the region.
Trans-Dniester’s president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, called Tuesday for imposing anti-terrorist security measures at a “red level” for 15 days, including setting up blockposts at the entrances to cities.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday that the situation in Trans-Dniester “elicits concern” in Moscow.
A Ukrainian presidential advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak warned in a tweet that Moldova might be attacked next.
“Bad news: if Ukraine falls tomorrow Russian troops will be at Chișinău’s gates,” he tweeted, referring to Moldova’s capital. “Good news: Ukraine will definitely ensure strategic security of the region. But we need to work as a team.”
Moldovan President Maia Sandu convened the country’s Supreme Security Council on Tuesday to discuss the incidents. After the meeting, she said a security analysis indicated that “different forces within the region, interested in destabilizing the situation,” carried out the blasts.
In Trans-Dniester there are about 5,000 Jews out of a population of about half a million and they live mainly in the capital Tiraspol. Jewish communities also exist in the cities of Bendri, Dobsari and Rivnitsa. Rivnitsa is well known among the Jews of the former Soviet Union, because shortly before World War II the number of Jews there was 38% of the city’s residents and was inhabited by the Tzaddik Rabbi Chaim-Zanville Avrahamovich, known as the “Rebbe of Rivnitsa.”
Chabad Shluchim in Moldova operates in the region, Pesach held a public Seder night in 4 cities. There are weekly shiurim and functions held during the year.
Following the escalation there, with a series of explosions, representatives of the Jewish communities turned to Rabbi Mendi Axelrod, a Chabad emissary in Kishinev, and asked him to evacuate to Kishinev. According to Rabbi Axelrod: The Jewish Agency and the JDC also operate in these cities.
According to Rabbi Zushe Abelsky, director general of the Jewish community in Moldova: “We have been inundated with inquiries in the last two days. People are sure they are next in line, after Ukraine. We have rented 5 hotels and camps here for refugees from Ukraine and we are preparing to receive refugees from Ternistria as well. “We have a large logistics system, with the help of local friends and community members around the world, and I hope that a humanitarian crisis will not break out here, as in Ukraine.”
Community Advocate Alex Galperin, who assists the activities of the Jewish community and Chabad, says: “There is a great deal of concern about the escalation. Transnistria has a large Russian-speaking population, alongside a Ukrainian community and a civil war could break out there at any moment.”
Mendy Goetzl of the Chabad House in Chisinau added: “The fear of a Russian invasion has become more tangible. I’m hearing of many already packing their bags.”
