Moldova alumnus from the PASS 2014 course, Mr. Valentin Balan, joined the Alumni MC Scholars Program to perform academic research at the Marshall Center on the topic “The Transnistria Conflict: Perspectives of Settlement and Developments in the Context of Regional Crisis " from 07 September to 09 October 2015. Academic Faculty support was provided by Dr. Pal Dunay.

Mr. Balan advanced his work on conflict in Transnistria through examination of aggressive Russian foreign policy throughout the region, and how Moldova has responded. He emphasized the failure of a Russian military presence in Transnistria to solve the territorial crisis towards unification of the territory with Moldova. Mr. Balan proposed that current political and economic instability in Moldova would only worsen the situation, and could ultimately result in a pro-Moscow coup in the government in Chisinau.