Christians in Moldova Say Invasion, Persecution Coming if Putin Isn't Stopped: 'Like Soviet Times'

CHISINAU, Moldova & TIRASPOL, Transnistria – President Biden is expected to call for more military aid to Ukraine in his State of the Union Address on Thursday night. As the war in Ukraine enters its third year, there's growing concern that Russia has its eyes on the tiny country of Moldova. 

This former Soviet Union republic, sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, wouldn't stand a chance against Russian forces. If a takeover happens, Moldova's small evangelical community would face a very dangerous future.  

Pastor Alexandr Belev of Church Without Walls remembers when at seven years old, four Russian KGB officers showed up at his parents' home in Moldova.

"All us 5 siblings had to sit in one room as they searched the house for Christian literature, Bibles, and anything related to Christianity," he recalls.

The agents found all sorts of Christian materials in the house that morning in 1982. They hauled Belev's father, a prominent underground Baptist pastor, off to prison where he spent the next two and half years behind bars for his faith. CBN News was even provided with video that was captured secretly that day of his father being led through prison gates. 

Forty-two years later, Belev is now pastor of a church here in Moldova's capital city Chisinau, and he also faces the prospect of enduring the same Christian persecution his father once suffered.

"Two years after the war in Ukraine, we know the very real scenario that Russia could easily invade Moldova, and if that happens we'll have the same type of persecution that is happening today in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia and like it was during Soviet times," Belev said.

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Home to roughly three million people, Moldova sits between Ukraine and Romania. Russia's war against Ukrainian forces has been raging barely 100 miles from Moldova's border.

Don Jenson of the United States Institute of Peace said, "I have no doubt that the Russian military planning has an invasion of Moldova on its books, something they are thinking about and something they can easily do if they want to test the West."
   
So far Ukraine has managed to stop the Russians from advancing west of Kherson in their drive to take key strategic cities like Mykolaiv and Odesa, and likely preventing a potential march on Moldova.

Valeriu Ghiletchi, a former Member of Moldovan Parliament, told us, "We are very thankful to Ukraine for their resistance because this is a guarantee for the peace in Moldova."

The spark that could ignite a potential Russian invasion of Moldova could happen right here in a region known as Transnistria.
  
CBN News traveled to the pro-Russian breakaway territory on Moldova's northern front, along Ukraine's border, where Moscow has in recent months stirred up political turmoil.
 
We made our way through several checkpoints manned by Russian troops to the region's capital of Tiraspol where a huge statue of Lenin adorns the town square.

Pro-Russian rebels here have asked President Vladimir Putin for protection against what they claim are economic threats from Moldova's government.

The majority of residents here in Transnistria would rather be part of Russia, and they know that Moldova's recent tilt West and desire to join the European Union are giving the Kremlin heartburn.  
 
Experts believe Putin is using Transnistria as a Russian proxy to scuttle Moldova's EU aspirations.  
 
Yuliya, a resident of Transnistria, told us, "People are more anxious, they are concerned about their fate and the possibility that they'd be forced to leave their homes because of an invasion."
 
Experts warn that if Ukraine falls to Russia, Moldova will most certainly be the Kremlin's next target.