TIRASPOL, Moldova - From the Baltic to the Black Sea, Russian President Vladimir Putin has shaken Europe's confidence with an escalating carousel of feints and bullying tactics that has involved probing the often wobbly resolve of NATO countries with massive land exercises and hundred of flybys by Russian fighter jets and nuclear-capable bombers.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
National Post: Tiny Transnistria could hold best clue to Putin’s expansionist vision

Ukrainian border guards march to patrol at the check point of Kuchurgany, some 100 km from the Black Sea city of Odessa, on the border with pro-Russian unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, or Transnistria on April 4, 2014. AFP PHOTO/ ALEXEY