Cobasna

Cobasna is a geopolitical MacGuffin. The village in Transnistria, a breakaway territory of Moldova, hosts what is widely believed to be Eastern Europe's largest ammunition depot, a relic of the Cold War secured by some 1,500 Russian troops.

rde told Sputnik that powerful geopolitical players have emerged, such as Russia, China, India and Brazil, which are a serious counterweight to the West and NATO. "Therefore, their plans to destroy, weaken and dismember Russia are not in their favor," he said.

The US State Department issued a warning on Monday evening for US citizens to leave or not to travel to the Moldovan breakaway region of Transnistria.

The State Department cited "unusual Russian troop movements around [neighbouring] Ukraine and the unresolved conflict between this breakaway region and the central government".

Visiting Chisinau on Wednesday, a senior Russian official said Russia and Moldova have agreed to lift trade restrictions and could agree also on the disposal of stocks of expired Soviet-era ammunition stored in the breakaway Russian-supported Transnistrian region.

Russia has decided to open 24 polling stations in Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria for the Russian presidential elections on March 18 that President Vladimir Putin is sure to win.