ROMANIA DENOUNCES SOVIET INTERFERENCE

December 9, 1991

Romania has strongly condemned the Soviet Army over reports that it had armed Russian separatists in the Romanian-dominated republic of Moldavia to disrupt yesterday's presidential election there.The protest came late Saturday after reports that an ethnic Romanian policeman was shot Friday when he tried to enter Moldavia's Dnestr region, where Russian nationalists declared a breakaway state. President Mircea Snegur, the sole candidate in the election, has accused the Soviet Army of arming the separatist Russians, enabling them to seal off their region before polling. The Soviet Defense Ministry has denied the charges.