ISTANBUL 

Moldova on Sunday protested Russia’s “illegal” electoral activities in its breakaway Transnistria region, as well as in Ukrainian territories that are under the control of Moscow. 

“We strongly condemn Russia’s unauthorized electoral activities on the sovereign territory of Moldova in the Administrative Territorial Units of the Left Bank of the Nistru (the Dniester),” Moldovan Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi said in a statement on X.

Popsoi called on the international community to “uphold a rule-based order” and “denounce Russia’s actions.”

He also expressed Moldova’s condemnation of the electoral activities conducted on Ukrainian territories controlled by Russia.

“We firmly support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the internationally recognized borders,” he added.

Three days of voting to elect Russia’s president began on Friday, with Vladimir Putin seeking a fifth term in office.

The other three candidates include the New People Party’s Vladislav Davankov, the Liberal-Democrat Party of Russia's Leonid Slutsky and the Communist Party's Nikolai Kharitonov.

Polling stations were opened in over 80 subjects of Russia, including the four Ukrainian regions illegally annexed by the country on Sept. 30, 2022 – Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia – as well as the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.

Russian Ambassador to Chisinau Oleg Vasnetsov announced last Tuesday that voting stations will also be opened in Moldova's breakaway Transnistria region.

In response, Vasnetsov was summoned by the Moldovan Foreign Ministry, which protested the opening of polling stations contrary to its request and said Moscow “defies the norms and principles of international law and undermines the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova.”

The breakaway Transnistria region which is internationally recognized as part of Moldova has been controlled by pro-Russian separatists since the early 1990s.