According to the expert, Russia will probably target Moldova if it succeeds in invading Ukraine – or even earlier.

Russia continues to focus its military potential to establish control over Donbas in eastern Ukraine, which has been a target since the beginning of the war. After the failure to take the capital Kyiv, the Russian troops marched en masse to the east.

But the prospect of such an invasion of Moldova, a small republic in southern Ukraine, has been causing concern for several months. Like its attacked neighbor, the Republic of Moldova was Soviet territory until 1991. And the separatist region along the border with Ukraine, Transnistria, was recognized by Moscow, but not by any other UN member.

Many assumed that Russia would take control of Moldova after a hypothetical victory in Ukraine. But Yuriy Felstinsky, a writer, historian and expert on Russian geopolitical history, told Express UK that the invasion of Moldova could begin much earlier:

“Even without finishing in Ukraine, if they get to Transnistria on the way, they will start a war there. Moldova will be in danger when the Russians arrive in Transnistria, if the Ukrainians cannot stop them. And Moldova, of course, is not a member of NATO.”

Felstynski argues that Putin will never be satisfied with just controlling Donbas, which was the reason for the invasion, or other regions that his forces now control.

The ground has already been prepared in Moldova, he explains. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, about 2,000 peacekeepers remained in Transnistria, who had been issuing Russian passports to the Russian-speaking population for the past decade.

“In Moldova, in Transnistria, there are approximately 220,000 Russian-speakers to whom the Russian government has started issuing Russian passports. He has been doing this since 2014.”

Russian officials have previously denied the idea of ​​invading Moldova, with Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Rudenko saying in April that they would “avoid such a scenario.”

Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilice said in late July that she was “very concerned” about the prospect of a Russian invasion, but added that “at the moment, this is a hypothetical scenario.” (photo: Dreamstime.com)

Source: Newsweek

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