In normal times, it would not matter much to the outside world who was mayor of Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, the small state squeezed between Romania and Ukraine with the breakaway territory of Trans-Dniestr on its eastern border. But last week’s victory of the pro-European incumbent Dorin Chirtoaca over a pro-Putin challenger is an important rebuff to any Russian hopes of creating yet more confusion in East and Central Europe.
It could be easy for the Kremlin to find a reason to send Russian troops to the troubled region of Trans-Dniestr, which is very close to where pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk have been fighting for some time to secede from Ukraine. But such a move will be much harder with a solid pro-European Union regime in place in Moldova, which would resist Russia taking over Trans-Dniestr.
But the election has not stopped the argument. In last week’s elections, pro-Russians won the mayoral post in Moldova’s second-largest city, Balti, and the eastern town of Orhei, where pro-Russian businessman Ilan Shor emerged victorious despite being investigated for withdrawing $1.5 billion (Dh5.41 billion) from state-owned and private banks, pointing to potentially dangerous pro-Russian instability.
