Transnistria accuses Ukraine of trying to kill its president

MOSCOW (AP) — Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria, which has close ties to Moscow and hosts Russian troops, claims it has thwarted an assassination attempt on its president allegedly organized by Ukraine’s national security service. Transnistria’s state security ministry said Thursday that an unspecified number of people had been arrested in connection with an attempted attack on the region’s president Vadim Krasnoselsky and other officials. Prosecutor Anatoly Guretsky said the suspects planned to detonate an explosives-packed automobile near the presidential cortege as it traveled through the capital Tiraspol. It said Ukraine’s SBU security service ordered the assassination attempt, but did not provide evidence. The SBU denied the claim.