The top general at NATO, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, said the world shouldn’t rest easy once the dust settles over Crimea — that Russia may have more land in its annexation sights, including nearby Moldova.
“The [Russia] force that is at the Ukrainian border now to the east is very, very sizable and very, very ready,” said Gen. Breedlove, in the New York Post. “There is absolutely sufficient force postured on the eastern border of Ukraine to run to Transnistria if the decision was made to do that, and that is very worrisome.”
Transnistria is home to about a half-million Russian-speaking residents, roughly 30 percent of whom are ethnic Russians. The residents there declared independence from Moldova in 1990, but have yet to receive recognition as a sovereign country from any other member states of the United Nations.
More regional unrest may be in the works, as several on Capitol Hill echo Gen. Breedlove’s worries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin “is not done in Ukraine,” said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “He goes to bed at night thinking of Peter the Great and wakes up thinking of Stalin. We need to be a little bit tougher with Putin, or he is going to continue to take territory to fulfill what he believes is rightfully Russia.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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