Russia’s neighbors shiver amid Putin’s Cold War moves in Ukraine

Moscow’s declaration that it intervened in Ukraine to protect Russian “citizens and compatriots” and would do so again has sent shock waves across former Soviet republics that have large, and often restive, ethnic Russian minorities.

Iurie Leanca, prime minister of Moldova, Ukraine’s southwestern neighbor, warned on a visit to Washington this week that the crisis risks becoming “contagious” if not promptly addressed.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili last week said the dramatic events unfolding in Ukraine underscore the immediate need for the EU to give a “clear promise of membership” to countries like his.

Unless that happens, “this crisis similar to Ukraine will happen again and again,” he told the Atlantic Council during a visit to Washington.

Russia’s justification for intervention is a “dangerous concept,” said Richard Fontaine, president of the Center for a New American Security in Washington. “Given the tens of millions of Russian speakers living abroad, such a doctrine threatens to radiate tension and instability in numerous countries.”