Moldova looks like "the next Ukraine.” So said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recenty. Obviously, that should worry us.
Lavrov, like others in the small and shrinking circle around Russia’s president, is increasingly reduced to parroting whatever propaganda lies or feverish hallucinations spill out of Vladimir Putin’s mind. So it’s a concern that he’s once again picking on Moldova.
Here’s what Lavrov meant. Viewed from Moscow, Moldova resembles Ukraine before Putin attacked it a year ago. Both countries used to be parts of the Soviet Union, and before that of the Russian and other empires. Both regained independence after the Cold War. And both have in recent decades oriented themselves westward, with aspirations to join the European Union one day. Last year, the EU in fact fast-tracked both Chisinau and Kyiv into the official status of candidates.