Russia's defence ministry alleged, with no evidence, that Ukrainian saboteurs, dressed as Russian troops, would attack from Transnistria, to provide a pretext for a Ukrainian invasion. Rampant inflation and a big influx of refugees from Ukraine have created further pressures, leading to protests organised by the populist and pro-Russian Sor party, led by fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor. Russia's defence ministry claimed it had detected a "significant amount of [Ukrainian] personnel and military vehicles" near Transnistria and said they carried a direct threat to Russia's peacekeeping force, but again it offered no evidence