April 26 (SeeNews) - Moldovan president Maia Sandu said on Tuesday she convened the Supreme Security Council following explosions in the pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria.
The meeting will start at 1pm local time, and the president will hold a press briefing at 3pm local time, according to a press release issued by the president's office.
On Monday, the Moldovan government said that blasts in and near Tiraspol, the administrative centre of Transnistria, are an attempt to heighten tensions in Moldova's breakaway region which is bordering Ukraine to the east.
"The aim of today's incident is to create pretexts for straining the security situation in the Transnistrian region, which is not controlled by the constitutional authorities," Moldovan Office for Reintegration, a government institution tasked with carrying out the negotiation process with the separatist-controlled region, said in a press release.
"In this context, the Office for Reintegration Policy calls for calm and, together with the relevant national institutions, is monitoring developments."
According to the reintegration office, unidentified people fired grenade launchers at the headquarters of the building housing the security services of the region and there were no casualties or injuries, according to preliminary data.
Moldovan media reported on Tuesday that two explosions were heard at a radio tower close to the border with Ukraine and knocked two antennas out of service.
In March, Maia Sandu reiterated a call for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria and asked for a peaceful resolution of the conflict - a day after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe designated the region as a territory occupied by Russia.
With a population of some 470,000, Transnistria is situated on a strip of land between the Dniester river and Moldova's eastern border with Ukraine. After a violent separation of the region from Moldova in 1992, Russia decided to station several thousand troops in the area to support the separatist republic.
In 2006, Transnistria held a referendum which showed that a broad majority of the population supports independence from Moldova and adherence to the Russian Federation. The results of the referendum were not recognised by the international community.
In March, Moldova applied for membership in the European Union. The country is in a state of emergency since February 24, when Russia invaded Ukraine.