New York: Moldova Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita has said she is very worried that Russia will invade her country next while warning that no country is safe from Russian President Vladimir Putin, media reports said.
Natalia Gavrilita’s warning came after Moscow’s forces made gains in Ukraine’s south and east, near the Moldova-Ukraine border, in recent months, Daily Mail reported.
Analysts believe that Kremlin is trying to create a land bridge between Russian-occupied territory in eastern Ukraine and Transnistria – an unrecognized breakaway region supported by Russia – in order to cut Ukraine off from the Black Sea, the report said.
Transnistria controls a narrow strip of land that is found mostly between the Dniester river and the Moldovan-Ukrainian border.
It declared independence from Moldova following a brief military conflict in 1992 but is internationally still recognized as being part of the Eastern European country.
“It’s a hypothetical scenario for now, but if the military actions move further into the southwestern part of Ukraine and toward Odessa, then, of course, we are very worried,” Gavrilita told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
With just 2.5 million people, Moldova is a tiny nation, especially when compared to neighboring Ukraine which had a population of over 40 million before the Russian invasion began on February 24.
