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Russia and Transnistria react as NATO grows
Summary
A look back at 28 February 2024, when Moscow threatened a response to Sweden's NATO bid and Transnistrian officials appealed for Russian help.
What did Russia say when Sweden's path into NATO opened up? On 28 February 2024, Moscow announced that it would take retaliatory "military-technical" steps in response to Sweden joining the alliance.
The announcement came two days after the Hungarian parliament, on 26 February 2024, approved Sweden's accession to NATO. Russia's statement framed its planned measures as a response to that enlargement, though it gave no detail of what the steps would involve.
Appeal from Transnistria
The same day, attention also turned to Moldova. Officials in Transnistria, a Russia-backed breakaway region internationally recognised as part of Moldova, appealed to the Russian Duma for more intervention in the territory. They made the appeal amid increasing tension with the Moldovan government.
The two developments were separate, but both showed Russia being drawn into disputes along the edges of its neighbourhood on 28 February 2024: one over the alliance's expansion in northern Europe, the other over a breakaway region within Moldova's internationally recognised borders.
