Moldovan blues...
I have been trying to understand the position of Moldova, which is that little country closest to Odesa in Ukraine. Moldova has a "breakaway" strip area at the front which is occupied by Russian troops, about 1500-2000, which is similar to the situation in Donbas and Georgia. It calls itself "Transnistria," or PMR for short. It seems that Russia will occupy any territory that hints at acceptance of their "support."
Moldova has been occupied like that since 1990, when they had a territorial war. Russia sent "peacekeepers" and never left, despite being told by Moldova to get the hell out. Moldova is messed up politically, with some people wanting the occupation, some people wanting to join the EU (they put in an application,) some people afraid that Moldova will join Romania, and some people who just want to be Moldova. Apparently, Moldova is striving to be a neutral country, but with increasing concern over the Russian war against Ukraine, now with the Russians starting on Odesa.
I was quite surprised to learn that Moldova has a formal "get the hell out" order against Russia at the UN. That's right. They went to the UN and got a formal demand granted that Russia is to vacate Moldovan territory. Every once in a while, they return to the issue in the UN and make a renewed demand for Russia to comply with this order. But, Russia doesn't listen, any more than they have listened to the judicial branch of the UN, the Hague, who also ordered them out of Ukraine to no avail.
Moldova readily acknowledges that it is in no way able to take on Russia or defend itself against this aggression. It would need all the help it can get to defeat Russia, the same as Ukraine. But, Moldova is strategically placed where the Russians could use PMR to attack Odesa from another front. And, Ukrainian intelligence has warned Moldova that they see moves by Russia to this end. Moldova poo poos this notion, as they see nothing. But, when has Ukrainian intelligence been wrong, so far? After all, the Ukrainians have the intelligence support of the US, and we are no slouches when it comes to spying on you. If we told them, and they told Moldova, and Moldova does nothing because there is nothing they can do, then what?
Apparently, the US does not recognize PMR but supports some kind of special status for that area. I dunno, it's messed up. Moldova has some kind of neutrality "enshrined" in its constitution, so it is a neutral country whose neutrality has been trampled on by Russia. They do not want any foreign troops stationed on their land, but lack the ability to enforce their own Constitution.
I must say, when Russia attempted to control Moldova with economic sanctions, they simply developed other customers, as you would. Their best export is WINE. A mellow country, yes?
