Speaking of Moldova, many people will say that they have not heard of this country, after all, it is too small, its land area is almost as large as Taiwan Province, the population is 2.6 million, not as good as our mid-level city population; at the same time, its sense of existence is too low, and it cannot be compared with well-known small countries such as the Vatican. However, even so, a small country like Moldova could not be left alone and live in seclusion, but like a lonely boat, it was involved in the whirlpool of the Russo-Ukrainian War. As the Russo-Ukrainian war intensified, both the United Nations and the United States issued warnings against Moldova, saying that tensions in the Transnistrian region of Moldova were escalating visibly. Even on April 26, UN Secretary-General António Guterres talked about it during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. So what kind of country is Moldova? Why did it fall into the shadow of the Russo-Ukrainian War?
(1) What kind of country is Moldova?
Moldova is a small country and a landlocked country, although it is less than 2 km from the sea. Located between Romania and Ukraine, it was historically controlled by the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, Romania and other countries, and became a republic of the former Soviet Union in 1940. Later, the Soviets carried out a period of ethnic cleansing of Moldova, organized Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians to settle in Moldova, and during the Brezhnev period, the Central Soviet Union concentrated on building most of Moldova's industry on the east bank of the Transnistria River, so this part of the people had more feelings for the Soviet Union and even Russia, after all, in the Soviet era, their lives were very good. However, in contrast, the natives of the original land were arranged by the Soviet Union to grow potatoes in Siberia and Kazakhstan.
But Moldova is a country that is not only on the east bank of the Transnistrian River, but also on a large area of land in the west bank, and the people of the west bank are mainly ethnic with neighboring Romania. According to the data given by the Moldovan government, the Moldovans are the main ethnic group in Moldova, accounting for about 75% of the population, but this ethnic group was created by the Soviets, in fact, they are a branch of the Romanians. And in 2013, Moldova also made a confession of ancestry, and the country's Constitutional Court ruled that the country's official language is Romanian. That is, moldova's east coast is more pro-Russian, while the west bank identifies as Romanian.
Thus, relations between Moldova and the SOVIET Union and later Russia were very contradictory. In 1990, when the demise of the Soviet Union was imminent and the Supreme Soviet of Moldova adopted the Declaration of the Sovereignty of the Republic, the people here began to organize demonstrations against Moldova's secession from the Soviet Union, so they decided to break away from Moldova and live on their own, trying to establish the "Republic of Moldavia along the Transnistrian Coast", that is, the Dezuo region. Of course, this republic is not universally recognized by the international community.
(2) Moldova under the clouds of war
Originally, before the Russo-Ukrainian War, the contradiction between pro-Russian and anti-Russian factions in Moldova was only an internal contradiction, because the German left region was an important economic pillar of Moldova, so although the two factions would be dirty, they would not turn against each other, after all, who is responsible for destroying the national economy? But with the resurgence of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the German-left identity of Russia naturally became a thorn in the side of the Moldovan majority government and the Ukrainians on the side, because they were most likely traitors.
Not long ago, the acting commander of Russia's Central Military District, Major General Rustam Minnekayev, announced that "there are russian-speaking people in Moldova who are persecuted" and that "the war may have spread to Moldova, Ukraine's western neighbor." And what are the facts? External unrest did detonate powder kegs in the Dezuo region, where on April 25 the "Ministry of State Security" building was attacked by militants, and on April 26, the communications tower of the Dezuo Regional Radio and Television Center was blown up by militants. In response to the terrorist attacks, the Dezuo regional government launched a 15-day red-level terrorist threat and began an investigation into "the illegal movement of armed personnel in the Transnistrian region and the terrorist acts they have committed on our territory". Although war has not yet broken out in Moldova, the clouds of war have hung over Moldova.
(2) Conclusion
Moldova's encounter fully proves a sentence, that is, "people in the rivers and lakes, involuntarily", on the verge of war, whether they want to or not, they can never avoid the grudge of breaking into the door. It is no exaggeration to say that peace is really a luxury.