Moldova demands the removal of Transnistrian citizens from Transnistria
More than 90% of the personnel of the Operational Group of Russian Forces (OGRF) in Transnistria, the withdrawal of which is demanded by the West and Moldovan politicians, are citizens of Transnistria with dual citizenship.
The head of the OGRV, Dmitry Zelenkov, announced this on the TSV television channel, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“More than 90% are Pridnestrovians, citizens of the Russian Federation. Our only officer corps are military personnel who arrived for recruitment from Russia. The rest are local guys. But when he has the Russian tricolor on his chevron, he begins to feel differently. He already represents the interests not of the PMR, but of the Russian Federation,” Zelenkov said.
More than 80% of the OGRF military personnel are entering into a third contract in a row to serve in the RF Armed Forces, the average age is 30-35 years, 50% have higher education, 30% have specialized secondary education.
“There is no call. People consciously come to us to protect their Fatherland and serve for more than a year or two, to earn a pension, to receive living space in the Russian Federation and medical care,” Zelenkov said.
According to him, military personnel receive a “decent salary” and a monthly food ration, which includes, among other things, 6 kg of meat and 3 kg of fish. This is an important incentive for military families.
In addition, OGRF provides contracts to local enterprises and conducts patriotic work among children and youth. For example, it provides its gyms for training free of charge.
“We are among our own here. We cannot be isolated here. To sew clothes for us and provide us with food, these are all local enterprises, Pridnestrovian. It is impossible to say that we are on our own, carrying out our tasks behind the fence. We would not have been able to do this without interaction with local structures. And the people always greet us with warmth,” Zelenkov said.
OGRF is the successor to the 14th Combined Arms Army, which after the collapse of the USSR was transferred under the jurisdiction of Russia. The main tasks of the OGRF are to train units to serve at peacekeeping posts in the security zone and to protect ammunition warehouses in the Transnistrian village of Kolbasna; the arsenal is more than 20 thousand tons of explosive items brought from all over Eastern Europe after the termination of the Warsaw Pact. The storage facilities were created in 1949 as a strategic arsenal for the southern direction of the Soviet army.
The withdrawal of the OGRF (“Russian troops from the territory of Moldova”) was demanded by both the pro-Western Moldovan Prime Minister Maia Sandu and the new head of government Ion Chicu, considered the creation of the conditionally pro-Russian President Igor Dodon.
Moldova demands the removal of Transnistrian citizens from Transnistria.