We Need to Talk About Moldova and Transnistria

Another potential conflict has sprung up and it's Russia's fault

If you’re relatively new to the issues related to Kremlin propaganda and how it’s affecting other countries (including the United States), I recommend reading some background posts I wrote that explains things in more detail along with links to other sites where you can read more to educate yourself.

When I first started this Substack last fall, I thought that I would focus only on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But then the Hamas terrorist attack happened in Israel on October 7, which has sparked the current Israeli bombing in Gaza and, of course it has a Kremlin connection. (Hamas is allied with Iran which, in turn is allied with Russia. Plus October 7 also happens to be Vladimir Putin's birthday.) Then Venezuela, which is also allied with Russia, is trying to take a huge swath of territory away from Guyana.

And now here is Moldova and Transnistria. Pro-Russian rebels based in Transnistria are asking Russia to protect their region from what they claim are threats from Moldova's government. This has sparked fears of a Russian annexation of Transnistria.

If that weren’t enough, the Kremlin is once again using Cameo in its propaganda against Moldovan President Maia Sandu just like Cameo was previously used against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Videos featuring celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, Dolph Lundgren, and Xzibit are tricked into reading from a phonetically transliterated script where they are saying in Russian “Davaite Skinem Sandu,” which is translated as “Let's get rid of Sandu.”

If you look at a map, it would be easy to understand why Russia wants Moldova. It is located next to Ukraine. Had those pesky Ukrainians not decided to put up a fight, the entire country would've fallen in Putin's original three-day schedule then Moldova would've been next on Putin’s personal “Countries to Invade and Conquer” list.

It's no surprise that Putin wants Ukraine. Like Ukraine, Moldovan history goes back thousands of years to the establishment of the Principality of Moldavia in 1346. Like Ukraine Moldova was part of the Russian Empire. Like Ukraine Moldova became an independent country for a few years following the collapse of the Russian Empire. Like Ukraine Moldova became part of the Soviet Union. Like Ukraine Moldova became an independent country in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Like Ukraine Russia encouraged the formation of a breakaway republic that consists mostly of Russian speakers but is not recognized by any other country on Earth.

The breakaway republic in question is known as Transnistria. This place is situated along the Dniester River between the eastern part of Moldova and Ukraine. If you go on YouTube you can find travel videos from the occasional Westerner who decided to visit Transnistria, which gets very few tourists.

I'm sure that it's pretty novel to see those old Soviet monuments and Communist-style architecture being very well preserved in Transnistria. But right now I wouldn't advise anyone to visit Transnistria due to the volatile situation. Heck, even visiting Moldova is iffy given the threats by Putin to reunite that nation with Russia.

Right now Moldova is applying to become part of the European Union, which is making Russia becoming even more hostile towards Moldova. Russia is doing everything possible, including using Transnistria, to thwart Moldova joining the European Union. Last week Moldova and France signed an agreement on defense cooperation.

Right now both Moldova and Transnistria are calm but that could change depending on Vladimir Putin's whims.

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