Russia accuses EU of intentions to 'occupy Moldova'

The EU and NATO are "determined to keep Moldova in line with their Russophobic policy," Russian state news agency TASS said, citing the press bureau of the SVR.

"They plan to do this at any cost, including by introducing troops and de facto occupying the country. At this stage, a concentration of armed forces units from NATO countries is being carried out in Romania near the Moldovan borders," the agency said.

It added that a NATO "task force" is being prepared for deployment to the Odesa region with the aim of intimidating Transnistria.

"The first group of career military personnel from France and Britain is already in place," it said.

Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is a breakaway state located on a narrow strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern border of Moldova with Ukraine's Odesa region.

It is internationally recognized as part of Moldova. However, since a brief war in 1992, it has functioned as a de facto independent state with its own government, military, currency, and passport system.

Its strategic location and the presence of a large, aging Soviet-era weapons depot make it a potential flashpoint, especially in the context of the war in Ukraine.