Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Moldova on Thursday that threatening the security of Russian troops in the breakaway region of Transdniestria risked triggering military confrontation with Moscow.
Russia has stationed peacekeeping troops in Transdniestria since the early 1990s, when an armed conflict saw pro-Russian separatists wrest most of the region from Moldovan control.
Russia says its army is there to maintain peace and stability, but Moldova wants Moscow to withdraw its forces.