Moscow says claims Moldova is its "next target" are "absurd"

Moscow says claims Moldova is its "next target" are "absurd"

MOSCOW -- NATO Supreme Allied Commander for Europe's statement about Russia "using frozen conflicts" as an instrument of political pressure are "absurd."

"It is obvious that such statements are in accordance with the anti-Russian propaganda, aiming to provide some justification for NATO's aggressive policy against Russia, and for the steps taken by NATO to extend its military potential," said Russian MFA spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich.

"Such statements are so absurd and far from reality that they do not deserve any special comments," concluded Lukashevich.

U.S. General Philip Breedlove said on Thursday that Russia could, after the conflict in Ukraine, focus on Moldova to prevent it turning towards the West.

Breedlove was speaking at the U.S. Congress when he was asked "what could be the next Russian target after Ukraine," and identified Moldova, AFP reported.

"Russian soldiers are deployed in Transnistria to keep Moldova from turning to the West," said he.

Transnistria is still formally a part of Moldova, but half a million Russian speaking residents on the eastern coast of the Dniester "believe that they live in an independent republic."

After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 Moldova "declared its independence from Moscow" and this came a year after the population in the eastern parts proclaimed the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, "hoping to remain part of the Soviet Union."