‘Ahead of two crucial polls, Kremlin ‘using all available means of leverage and interference to impose its will – short of bombing the country’.

Since the Ukraine invasion, concern has grown that Vladimir Putin would turn his attention to neighbouring Moldova in a bid to regain control of another former Soviet republic.

Although Moldova does not share a border with Russia, its separatist region of Transnistria has become the rallying cry used by Moscow to undermine the tiny country. In February, pro-Russian separatist leaders issued an appeal to Putin for “protection” that “echoed similar ‘appeals’ from inside Ukraine which set in motion the illegal Russian annexations of its territories”, said Chatham House experts…’ ( Elliott Goat, The Week UK via The Week )