World Bulletin / News Desk

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has arrived in Moldova's breakaway pro-Russian region region Transdniester to celebrate the 69th anniversary of the fall of Nazi Germany.

Speaking in Tiraspol on Friday, he promised to secure the sovereignty of the self-declared republic, which is located close to the Ukrainian border.

"On the borders of Transdniester a genuine blockade is being set up," he said, noting that men aged 16 to 60 years old are being blocked from entering the nearby Ukrainian city of Odessa.

Recent pro-Russian uprisings in Odessa have been blamed on Russian militias based in Transdniester.

The Ukrainian government accuses Russia of being behind a number of pro-Russian uprisings in eastern provinces and the southern city of Odessa in a bid to secure a corridor along the strategic Black Sea coast to link it with Transdniester.

Russia has already annexed the breakaway Crimean peninsula from Ukraine after a March 16 referendum saw the region's mainly ethnic Russian community opt to join Russia.