Threat to Moldova and Central Asia: Putin can justify aggression against any neighbor-isw

" Such statements were suggested before the start of a full -scale war in Ukraine, and the analysts of the American Institute for War Study (ISW) in the report of February 22. Putin in a four-minute speech at a rally concert in Luzhniki stated that now "there is a battle for the historical boundaries of Russia and for the Russian people. " And on February 21, during the Epistle to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, he called the territory adjacent to Russia.

"Putin did not make other important remarks about the course of the war and did not discuss specific tasks at the front," the Institute's experts said. The Putin concept of "historical borders" of Russia can be used to justify aggression against any neighbor, Moldova and Central Asia countries that do not have common borders, experts said. In particular, Central Asia takes into account the territories that were previously either in the Soviet Union or in the Russian Empire.

Experts say that Putin's speech followed after the abolition of the recognition of the territorial integrity of Moldova. The President of the Russian Federation canceled the decree of 2012 on Russia's foreign policy course. It states that Moscow will actively work on resolving the Transnistrian conflict on the basis of respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and neutral status of Moldova.

In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova launched a withdrawal of dozens of contracts within the CIS. Foreign Minister Nika Passok called these treaties inaccessible or working against the interests of Moldova. "Moldova joins the European Union, has completely different goals of foreign policy. It is obvious that the exit from the CIS or termination of these agreements, incompatible with our obligations, will continue," Passka said.

According to ISW experts, the cancellation of the decree from 2012 does not mean a mandatory attack of the Russian Federation on Moldova. Putin has no military potential, but it is worth expected to escalate efforts to destabilize the situation in the country. We will remind that on February 20 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky promised to help Moldova in the event of aggression of military Russian military.