Ukraine war: Fears grow that Russia will target former Soviet state of Moldova next

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine rages on, citizens of Moldova face an increased state of anxiety, as they wonder whether the small, eastern European country of about 2.6 million is the next to come into Moscow’s crosshairs.

At the same time, Europe’s poorest state is host to the largest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita, with more than 300,000 people having crossed over the border into Moldova since the war broke out on 24 February.

The fears are tied to possible troop movements in the Transnistrian separatist region on the left bank of the Dniester River, and Russia's attack against the city of Odesa in southern Ukraine -- just 60 kilometres from the nearest Moldovan border town, Palanca.

For Vlad, 31, a researcher at the Moldovan Academy of Sciences, the main concern is whether the Kremlin will limit its attacks on Ukraine or expand further into other former territories of the Soviet Union.

"The Russians may not stop in Odesa, but come to Transnistria and Moldova. I hope this does not happen, but the possibility is always there," he says.

However, older people like Gheorghe, 63, who works as a night watchman, believe the war might stop at the border.

"I do not think that the Russians will reach Moldova. What do they want from here, maybe our wines? No, I think they will stop at the Dniester," Gheorghe concluded.

For more than 30 years, Moldova has had about 1,500 to 2,000 Russian soldiers on its territory following a war in the breakaway region of Transnistria, which proclaimed itself a separate Soviet republic amid expectations that Chisinau might declare its independence in 1990.

Amid the 1991 coup d’état attempt in Moscow and Moldova’s split from the remnants of the USSR, Transnistrian separatists backed by Russia