"For its part, Moldova's majority party (Communist in name only) seeks to use the restored relationship with Moscow in order, at a minimum, to recapture Russophone leftist votes in these elections and, as a maximum goal, to induce Moscow to facilitate progress on resolving the Transnistria conflict on terms acceptable to Moldova, instead of blocking such progress as heretofore. Such an outcome, or the close prospect of one, could ensure an electoral landslide for Voronin's party, which is now headed for a narrow win. The Kremlin can use these levers creatively to influence the outcome of Moldova's elections in favor of the incumbent majority party and cement a post-election rapprochement with it.
"Moscow and Chisinau profoundly distrust each other, but they are seeking to use each other in the short term in their respective interests. Those interests will remain mutually irreconcilable in the post-election period, if Moldova continues to seek European integration as a top national priority and if Russia persists with sphere-of-influence rebuilding, using Transnistria as a remote-controlled instrument against Ukraine as well as Moldova and now increasingly against the West. These conflicting priorities will almost certainly remain constant in both Moscow and in Chisinau in the foreseeable future"
However, Radio Free Europe has a more intriguing take: Russia wants to settle the Transnistrian conflict on its own as a way to boost its international standing in the wake of the war in Georgia:
"For the Kremlin, progress on the Transdniestrian settlement would constitute a resounding success story and help to repair Russia's international standing in the aftermath of the August war against Georgia. Even the prospect of a Russian-sponsored breakthrough in Transdniester would cast Russia in the role of a benign regional arbiter and serve as a hard-to-miss signal that efforts to accommodate Russia's concerns are rewarded, while unfriendly behavior is punished."
