Russia - threadbanned users in OP

I imagine their initial plan was to use them as they advanced through Ukraine.....

Did you read the article or just the headline?

The question is how close are Russia and Transnistria? Answer: close enough. How close are Russia and Moldova? Not really discussed in the article.

I was thinking they would just fly the troops into Transnistria, which I presume is how the existing 1,300 got there. Perhaps they would initially concentrate on taking over Moldova first.

Something appears to be up. If it's not Russia's doing, then good.

The biggest am radio towers used by Russia to flood Ukraine and elsewhere with propaganda

Don't know if it does depend on the Moldovan government, really, because if the Moldovan people west of the Dniester aren't willing to put up with Russian soldiers on their land, they can make any occupation problematic. We saw in Ukraine in the previous decade that if the people aren't having it, a Russian-controlled government won't make much difference to that fact.

From the Guardian:

The Euromoney website is today carrying a new interview with Kyrylo Shevchenko, governor of the National Bank of Ukraine. He tells the economic magazine about his daily routine and how it has changed, saying:

My day begins with news about the situation on the frontlines and a quick review of data on the standing of the banking system and financial markets. It used to feel like I had workdays and weekends. The feeling of there being weekends is now gone. My team and I have stopped bothering with dress code and other formalities.

Shevchenko says that the experience of the coronavirus pandemic meant they were already flexible with remote working, and that they had an emergency plan for keeping the banking system running after the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine by Russia. He says all financial decisions being taken at the bank have the goal of keeping the economy running until the war is won.

All of the central bank’s activities are now guided by the military situation. Our main goal is to ensure Ukraine’s financial stability even as Russian wages its war of aggression, and to help end this war as soon as possible, in particular by weakening the aggressor’s ability to finance it. The stable and uninterrupted operation of the banking system, should not be taken for granted. It has come at a price. This resilience has been the result of constant coordinated efforts by the NBU and banks.

However, the most striking part of the interview comes when he is asked if he has a message for his counterpart at Russia’s central bank, Elvira Nabiullina.

“I recommend that she read the biography of Walther Funk,” is all Shevchenko has to say.

As Eric Ellis, who conducted the interview, notes in the piece, Walther Funk was the governor of Germany’s central bank during the second world war. He was tried at Nuremberg and dubbed “the Banker of Gold Teeth” for his role in ensuring the confiscated possessions of holocaust victims, including their gold teeth, made their way back into the Nazi economy. Convicted as a war criminal, he died in 1957 after receiving a life sentence of imprisonment.

"Putin" interchangeable with "Putin and the far left"

This is a powerful sight no Russian soldiers or generals want to see