Terror in Tiraspol?

Yesterday an explosion on a bus in Tiraspol killed 8 people and seriously wounded many more. Tiraspol is the main city in Transdniester, the breakaway region of Moldova that remains close to Russia.

At least eight people were killed and 26 injured when a bomb went off in a taxi in what a senior local official suspected was a "terrorist" attack.

The blast occurred at 7:00 am (0400 GMT) in the breakaway territory of Trandnestr, which has been de facto independent from the rest of Moldova since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Eyewitnesses said the taxi, a Mercedes minibus, was waiting at a red light in Transdnestr's main city, Tiraspol, when the powerful explosion occurred.

Vladimir Voronin, the president of Moldova, offered his condolences and promised to cooperate with local authorities in tracking down the culprits.

Transdnestr, stretching 460 kilometers (285 miles) along the border of southwest Ukraine, has not been recognized as independent by any other country. Peace talks with the government of Moldova have all but collapsed.

MosNews reports:

According to Russia’s Foreign Ministry, two Russian peacekeepers received injuries in the explosion, and a nurse of the military Russian hospital was killed, RIA Novosti said.

It is not clear who was behind this, nor is the motive clear. Despite the tensions between Moldova and Russia, Transdniester has not been a particularly violent place.

There is speculation this bombing was done to put pressure on Russia at the upcoming G8 summit. The US would like to talk about Transdniester at the summit, and perhaps someone wanted to remind the world of Russia's presence. (Russian troops are stationed there.)

Perhaps someone was upset with Russia's heavyhanded approach to Moldova and its gas supply. (Earlier this year, when Russia shut off the gas to Ukraine, it shut off the gas to Moldova as well.) There was this news on Monday.

The government said today that under the deal, Moldova would pay $160 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas starting on July 1.

For the first six months of 2006, Moldova paid $110 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas.

Last year Moldova paid $80 per kcm. So, Russia has doubled Moldova's energy bill.

Previous posts

The Transdniester region
Russian meddling
New customs rules in the Transdniester region
Could Russian troops leave the Transdniester region?
Sticky Transdniester