Moldova’s Prime Minister has said she is ‘very worried’ Russia will invade her country next, while warning that no country is safe from Vladimir Putin.
Moscow
Natalia Gavrilita’s warning came after Moscow’s forces made gains in Ukraine’s south and east close to the Moldova-Ukraine border, in recent months.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow’s overarching goal in Ukraine is to topple President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government, expressing the Kremlin’s war aims in some of the bluntest terms yet.
Analysts believe the Kremlin is trying to create a land bridge between Russian-occupied territory in eastern Ukraine and Trans-Dniester – an unrecognised breakaway region supported by Russia – in order to cut Ukraine off from the Black Sea.
Trans-Dniester
Trans-Dniester controls a narrow strip of land that is found mostly between the Dniester river and the Moldovan–Ukrainian border.
It declared independence from Moldova following a brief military conflict in 1992 but is internationally still recognised as being part of the former Soviet republic.
‘It’s a hypothetical scenario for now, but if the military actions move farther into the southwestern part of Ukraine and toward Odessa, then of course we are very worried,’ Gavrilita told CNN on Sunday, the Washington Post reported.
She said she is very worried Russia will invade her country next, while warning that nobody is safe from Vladimir Putin.
Fighting
‘We are very worried, especially considering that troops are on the territory of the secessionist Trans-Dniester region. We are doing everything possible to maintain peace and stability and to ensure that the fighting does not escalate.’
Moldova has a population of just 3 million, compared to Ukraine which has 40 million. The landlocked nation which lies between Romania and Ukraine is constitutionally neutral.
Moldova was part of the Soviet Union until 1991. Since the war in Ukraine began, it has sheltered around half a million Ukrainian refugees.
Gavrilita said the ongoing war had created a ‘difficult situation’ for several European countries, not just Moldova.
International law
‘If a country can start an annexation war without any regard for international law, then in this sense, nobody is safe. I think a lot of countries are worried,’ she said.
Meanwhile, Trans-Dniester’s foreign ministry said on Friday that the goal of the Moldovan breakaway region to become part of Russia remains unaffected by the war in neighbouring Ukraine.
Moldova was granted candidate status to join the European Union alongside Ukraine last month.
The two nations will have to go through a lengthy process to become members and are expected to fulfil certain criteria.
