Putin’s foreign minister Lavrov is again making implicit nuclear threats saying that “the risks [of nuclear war[ now are considerable… I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it.”
This statement occurred within just hours of a blast in the Russian-backed separatist region of another Eastern European state, Transnistria, in Moldova, in which two Russian military antennas were damaged. The region has been under Russian military occupation for nearly three decades, and rhetoric from Russian state media has been increasingly making the implication that Transnistria is Russian sovereign territory.
The Moldovan central government was quick to label the blast a false flag attack, saying that they were “pretexts for straining the security situation in the Transnistrian region, which is not controlled by the constitutional authorities.”
Just days ago, Russian authorities claimed that Putin’s renewed aim to seize the South of Ukraine after failing to annex Kiev was designed to create a corridor to back separatist forces in Transnistria.
Their new claims of terrorist attacks in Moldova appear to resemble the claims of destabilization that were a prelude to Putin’s invasion and attempt to annex Ukraine. If these are a false-flag attack as Moldova claims, this would implicate the Russian military, which is already present in Transnistria, in attempting to foment a new front outside of Ukraine.
Note: All pictures are screen captures from RT, which is Russian state media, and is representative of official Russian governmental stances.