Given the negative reaction

Given the negative reaction in the West to Kyiv’s plans to ban the Moscow church, it is possible that a re-elected President Sandu will not move to ban the Russian church. Pressure from her allies, however, means that the issue is not going to go away even if Sandu does not take action later. That pressure is likely to keep Moldova on the road to an eventual ban. This could become the basis for an even more dramatic Moldovan break with Moscow—all the more so because of Moscow’s concerns about what a ban would mean for its status in the Orthodox world and the knock-on ufabet