# Moldova - Putin’s next target? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 12, 2023, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moldova-putin-s-next-target/979672 "2023-02-12T19:43:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moldova-putin-s-next-target/979672/1 "2023-02-12T19:43:08Z")
Here’s the breakaway (ha!) thread on Moldova. It fits with the “Greater Russia” issue, but I thought I’d start a new thread because this might be an issue on its own. I don’t know much at all about Moldova, but looking at the map, the only way that Russia could invade Moldova is by taking Odessa, which I imaging Ukr will fight hard for, to keep their only major Black Sea port. In other news, the pro-western Moldovan gov’t fell this week, and a new gov’t has been sworn in, ostensibly still pro-EU. I don’t know anything more than that. Here’s an interesting article from a former US ambassador to Moldova which provides an outline of the issues: > **[Moldova—Putin’s Next Target?](https://afsa.org/moldova-putins-next-target)** > > A former ambassador to Moldova offers his perspective on the underlying issues of culture, language, ethnicity and history driving the current conflict. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moldova-putin-s-next-target/979672/2 "2023-02-12T19:44:35Z")
Again, I don’t know much about Moldovan politics, but I’ve wondered before it it might be time to consider joining Romania. Moldova is pretty tiny and that’s an increasingly dangerous part of the world. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moldova-putin-s-next-target/979672/3 "2023-02-12T20:51:35Z")
The only thing I know about Moldova is that is where Orly Tait is from. And I admit I had to think of the rude version of her name to remember her actual name. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moldova-putin-s-next-target/979672/4 "2023-02-12T20:55:28Z")
The only way Russia could get there would be to either go through NATO member Romania, or through the parts of Ukraine that they currently can’t reach. I mean, I’m sure Putin would like to conquer it, but him and what army? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moldova-putin-s-next-target/979672/5 "2023-02-16T09:13:35Z")
With the one currently occupying the sizeable separatist chunk of it known as Transnistria. Russia has already secured the right to move troops in and out of Transnistria, by air, as part of a 1992 peace agreement with the Moldovan government. And Transnistria itself has been armed to the teeth since Soviet times; one of the reasons they were able to prevail in their war of secession was that they already held the country’s largest stockpile of weapons and military equipment. As I understand it, Russian military supplies and troop transports in and out of Transnistria occur through the airport in Chișinău, in the non-occupied part of the country. (Russian planes either make a stopover there, or else the soldiers and equipment are unloaded in Chișinău and then transported overland to Transnistria.) Civilian flights between Moldova and Russia are currently suspended due to the war, but I’m not sure about military flights. I suspect they are allowed to continue, or else Russia would be making a big stink about it (or disregarding the prohibition entirely), and there would naturally be news coverage about this. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moldova-putin-s-next-target/979672/6 "2023-02-16T09:22:08Z")
Having checked just now, it seems that Moldova’s military has 6500 active personnel, while in Transnistria there are 5500 and 1500 active personnel in the Transnistrian and Russian militaries, respectively. So purely in terms of active personnel, Transnistria already has the advantage, assuming that the Russian soldiers would be fighting on their side. (Of course, one also has to factor in reserve personnel, civilians fit for military duty that could be called up for service, the quantity and quality of equipment, prospective help from allies, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moldova-putin-s-next-target/979672/7 "2023-02-16T10:05:07Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I’ve wondered before if it might be time to consider joining Romania. Moldova is pretty tiny and that’s an increasingly dangerous part of the world. There are valid reasons for Moldova to consider joining Romania but also valid reasons not to. The possibility was mooted in the early 1990s, but it didn’t get much traction. Moldova was part of the Soviet Union for 50 years, and though ethnic Moldovans speak Romanian, the vast majority of them saw themselves as a distinct nationality. Historically, Romania has regarded Moldova as backward and provincial, so Moldovans were afraid they’d be neglected or exploited under Romanian rule. Moreover, Moldovans weren’t all that impressed with Romania’s political and economic conditions. Finally, Moldova had fragile relations with its ethnic minorities (not just the Slavs but also the Turkic-speaking Gagauz), and many Moldovan citizens, regardless of their background, were worried that unifying with Romania would spark renewed inter-ethnic warfare. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moldova-putin-s-next-target/979672/8 "2023-02-16T10:11:07Z")
> [@Chad\_Sudan](#): > > There are valid reasons for Moldova to consider joining Romania but also valid reasons not to. The possibility was mooted in the early 1990s, but it didn’t get much traction. That’s putting it mildly. The mere murmurs of its discussion were the cause of the years-long [Transnistrian War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria_War) in the early 1990s, which resulted in a frozen conflict that persists to this day. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moldova-putin-s-next-target/979672/9 "2023-02-16T14:44:55Z")
Fascinating. Thanks for the info, @psychonaut and @Chad_Sudan .