CHISINAU, Moldova and TIRASPOL, Transnistria – President Biden is expected to call for more military aid to Ukraine in his State of the Union address Thursday evening. As the war in Ukraine enters its third year, there are growing concerns that Russia has its eyes on the small country of Moldova.
This former republic of the Soviet Union, sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, would have no chance against Russian forces. If a takeover occurs, Moldova’s small evangelical community would face a very dangerous future.
Pastor Alexandr Belev of Church Without Walls remembers the moment, at the age of seven, when four Russian KGB agents showed up at his parents’ home in Moldova.
“We five brothers and sisters had to sit in one room while we searched the house for Christian literature, Bibles and anything related to Christianity,” he recalled.
Agents found all kinds of Christian materials in the house that morning in 1982. They took Belev’s father, a prominent underground Baptist minister, to prison where he spent the next two and a half years behind bars because of of his faith. CBN News even received video secretly captured that day, showing his father being led through the prison gates.
Forty-two years later, Belev is now pastor of a church here in Chisinau, Moldova’s capital, and he also faces the prospect of enduring the same Christian persecution his father once suffered.
“Two years after the war in Ukraine, we know the very real scenario that Russia could easily invade Moldova, and if that happens, we will have the same type of persecution that is happening today in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia and as it was before. in Soviet times,” Belev said.
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Home to around three million people, Moldova is located between Ukraine and Romania. Russia’s war against Ukrainian forces rages barely 160 kilometers from the Moldovan border.
Don Jenson of the US Institute of Peace said: “I have no doubt that Russian military plans include an invasion of Moldova, something they are thinking about and could easily do.” if they want to test the West. »
So far, Ukraine has managed to prevent the Russians from advancing west of Kherson in their drive to take key strategic cities like Mykolaiv and Odessa, and likely prevent a possible march on Moldova.
Valeriu Ghiletchi, a former Moldovan MP, told us: “We are very grateful to Ukraine for its resistance because it is a guarantee for peace in Moldova. »
The spark that could ignite a possible Russian invasion of Moldova could happen right here, in a region known as Transnistria.
CBN News traveled to the pro-Russian separatist territory on Moldova’s northern front along the Ukrainian border, where Moscow has stirred up political unrest in recent months.
We passed through several checkpoints manned by Russian troops to Tiraspol, the region’s capital, where a huge statue of Lenin adorns the town square.
Pro-Russian rebels have called on President Vladimir Putin to protect against what they see as economic threats from the Moldovan government.
The majority of Transnistrian residents would prefer to be part of Russia, and they know that Moldova’s recent westward orientation and desire to join the European Union is giving the Kremlin heartburn.
Experts believe Putin is using Transnistria as a Russian proxy to scuttle Moldova’s EU aspirations.
Yuliya, a resident of Transnistria, told us: “People are more anxious, they worry about their fate and the possibility of being forced to leave their homes because of an invasion. »
Experts warn that if Ukraine falls to Russia, Moldova will almost certainly be the Kremlin’s next target.
