(Bloomberg) — Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria has called on Russia to step in and stop what it described as attempts by the government in Chisinau to bring the enclave back into its fold through economic pressure.

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The self-proclaimed administration in Tiraspol adopted a declaration directed at Moscow, the United Nations and other international organizations, at a congress convened on Wednesday, denouncing recently introduced trade taxes by Moldova’s pro-European Union government.

The measures could cost the region about 10% of its economic output, according to the enclave’s economy minister Serghei Obolonik.

The declaration threatens to create a new flashpoint in a region that shares a border with Ukraine. Transnistria, a narrow stripe of land wedged between Moldova and Ukraine, is home to ethnically Russian separatists running a pro-Kremlin breakaway republic.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, worries have arisen that the country could be overrun if Russia sought to link Transnistria to Moscow-controlled territories.

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