This defeat will cost Russia dearly, as more than 90 percent of the population of increasingly pro-Western Moldova identify as Orthodox. This further undercuts the Moscow patriarchate’s claim to speak for all the Orthodox peoples of the post-Soviet space (Window on Eurasia, October 22, 2018; see EDM, August 12, 2021, August 17, 2023). These worri
that she is being disingenuous
Sandu has denied any such plans, but her critics say that she is being disingenuous out of fear that she will lose votes in the upcoming presidential elections in October (Politnavigator.net, September 6, 7, 10; Rubaltic.ru, September 7, 16; Eurasia.Expert, September 13; Izvestiya, September 14; Rusk.ru, September 24). The ongoing attacks on Sandu
in maintaining its influence
The Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (ROC MP), one of the Kremlin’s most important tools in maintaining its influence in the former Soviet space, is facing yet another crisis, this time in Moldova. Some of the allies of pro-Western President Maia Sandu say they want to follow the Ukrainian example and ban the Moscow church, as t