Moldova
![A Russian soldier at a checkpoint in Tiraspol, Transnistrian region, Moldova.](https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/russia-moldova-transnistria-europe-01242024-1.jpg?w=519&h=259&crop=1)
Efforts to explain why relations between Russia and the EU collapsed over the past decade have taken a closer look at previously neglected historical factors. But one development that perhaps represented the first step toward the current crisis between Moscow and Europe is overlooked: the Moldova-Transnistria war over 30 years ago.