Moldova summoned the Russian ambassador on May 18, days after Putin signed a decree fast-tracking citizenship for Transnistria residents in what Moldovan and Ukrainian officials have called a covert mobilisation tool.
The summons of ambassador Oleg Ozerov came against a backdrop of escalating Russian provocations, as Deschide.MD first reported. The Moldovan Foreign Ministry gave no immediate explanation for the meeting. The week prior had seen two significant incidents: a Russian Shahed drone crossed Moldovan airspace from north to south before disappearing from radar, and Putin signed the citizenship decree on May 15.
Under the decree, adult residents of Transnistria can obtain Russian citizenship without residing in Russia, passing Russian language and history exams, or meeting other standard naturalisation requirements. The move formalises a fast-track passport process that bypasses all conditions previously applied to foreign nationals.
Mobilisation or Pressure Tactic?
Both Moldovan leaders and independent analysts have identified forced military recruitment as the decree’s primary purpose. Speaking at the Lennart Meri Conference in Tallinn, Moldovan President Maia Sandu was direct. “Probably they need more people to send to the war in Ukraine,” she told Politico. She framed the decree as one of Russia’s tactics to threaten Moldova over its reintegration efforts, noting that since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, most Transnistrian residents had actively sought Moldovan citizenship precisely to avoid Russian mobilisation.
Moldovan Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu was equally forthcoming, telling NewsMaker: “A Russian passport is becoming the passport of an aggressor state that is not recognised in the civilised world. I believe the Kremlin’s decision is linked to attempts to send as many soldiers to the front as possible, given that recruitment rates have recently declined.” He urged Transnistrian residents to be cautious, warning that “citizenship entails not only benefits but also obligations”, including taxes and military service.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the move as “Russia’s way of staking a claim to Transnistria’s territory” and instructed Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry to coordinate with Chisinau on a joint response, as the Kyiv Independent reported.
Why Russia Moved Now
Analysts point to a combination of factors behind the timing. Artem Filipenko, a former head of the Southern Region Research Sector at Ukraine’s National Institute for Strategic Studies, told Intent that the decree is aimed primarily at Moldova rather than Ukraine. “There are already about 220,000 Russian citizens in Transnistria, which is from half to two-thirds of the population. Whoever wanted to got Russian citizenship,” he noted. The decree’s significance, he argued, lies in formally designating Transnistria as a priority region of Russian interest, creating a legal basis for claiming the need to “protect” Russian citizens there.
The move follows a well-established Kremlin playbook. Russia applied similar passportisation strategies in Georgia’s occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and in occupied regions of Ukraine, using manufactured citizenship majorities as a pretext for military intervention or annexation claims. The Kyiv Post noted that the decree also coincides with Moldova’s accelerating EU accession process and Chisinau’s economic pressure on Tiraspol, suggesting the Kremlin is seeking leverage to complicate both.
Moldova’s Response and What It Means
When asked whether Putin could block Moldova’s EU membership through the Transnistria issue, Sandu dismissed the premise entirely: “Only the EU can decide whether Moldova can become part of the EU or not. Russia has nothing to do with it.” Moldova secured EU candidate status in 2022, formally opened accession negotiations in 2024, and targets a membership treaty by 2028.
Munteanu confirmed that Chisinau would discuss possible countermeasures and did not rule out additional diplomatic steps beyond the ambassador summons. Ukraine has already reinforced its defences along the border with Transnistria in response to the broader escalation.
