Moldova’s Restive Separatists, Russia Worries, and EU Aspirations

Podcast / Europe & Central Asia23 April 20241 minute

This week on War & Peace, Olga and Elissa are joined by Crisis Group experts Oleg Ignatov and Marta Mucznik to talk about the calls for Russian help from Moldova's breakaway Transnistria region and autonomous Gagauzia and Moldova's own worries about Russia as it seeks EU membership.

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• Moldova

In this episode of War & Peace, Olga and Elissa speak with Crisis Group's Oleg Ignatov, Senior Russia Analyst, and Marta Mucznik, Senior EU Analyst, about Moldova's increasingly fraught relations with its breakaway region of Transnistria and Gagauz autonomous region, the recent appeals the two issued to Moscow for protection and implications for Chisinau's EU membership goals. They discuss the shifting power dynamics between Transnistria and the pro-EU integration government in Moldova since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and what the breakaway region's larger economic dependence on Chisinau and the EU means for the prospect of reunification. They assess Russia's involvement in Moldova and Moscow's geopolitical aims in the region. They also talk about how the EU views the situation in Moldova and what Chisinau and others can do to prevent tensions further escalating.

Click here to listen on Apple Podcastsor Spotify.

For more about the topics discussed in this episode, check out our Moldovacountry page.

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