German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock believes recent developments in Moldova mirror those at the beginning of the Ukraine-Russia conflict several years ago when Moscow illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula.
Her comments came after the pro-Russian rulers of the breakaway region of Transnistria in Moldova asked Russia for "protection," according to media reports.
A congress of the internationally unrecognized separatist region, which borders on Ukraine, voted in favour of a resolution to this effect on Wednesday, Moldovan media reported.
According to the resolution, Transnistria wants to turn to the Russian Federation Council and the State Duma "with a request to implement measures to protect Transnistria in the face of increasing pressure from Moldova."
What exactly they expect from Russia was not immediately clear.
Germany's top diplomat Baerbock on Thursday drew parallels to developments in eastern Ukraine several years ago, when minorities were instrumentalized by Russian President Vladimir Putin to help prepare his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, she said.
"Sham referendums, sham proceedings to destabilise another country are a breach of international law," Baerbock asserted. Her ministry has long been aware of the destabilisation of the Republic of Moldova from outside, she added.
Baerbock stressed that she wanted to support the country in its right to territorial integrity.
In 2014, Moscow illegally annexed Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea after holding a referendum asking citizens if they wanted to join the Russian Federation.
Neither the referendum nor the annexation of Crimea have been internationally recognized.
