I doubt Sandu would try anything like this until after the election. It makes sense that the best time to try reunifying Moldova with Transnistria would be while Russia's military is preoccupied in eastern Ukraine. Any Russian threats to military intervene would be meaningless.
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Moldova eyes energy lever to topple Kremlin puppet regime in Transnistria"
"The face-off has been tense, but maintained by a powerful connection: Moldova gets cut-rate Russian energy via Transnistria, which gets hundreds of millions of euros a year in return. The link allowed Russia to preserve control over the strategic strip of land along the Ukrainian border, where its troops are stationed despite Moldova’s objections.
That dynamic is changing, however. Moldova in recent years has integrated with Europe under pro-EU President Maia Sandu. Brussels has offered millions of euros and more links to its energy supplies as part of a yearslong process to get the country, one of Europe’s poorest nations, ready for EU membership.
“Moldova is no longer dependent on Transnistria,” Moldovan Foreign Minister Mihai Popșoi told POLITICO. “When it comes to gas, we buy gas on the international market. On the electricity side, we are building high-voltage lines to connect ourselves to Romania.”
The switch is a problem for Transnistria, but also for the Moldovan government. Stopping payments to Transnistria would collapse the separatist state’s budget and leave hundreds of thousands of people there without incomes and basic services — a challenge that, for a country Moldova’s size, would be akin to the reunification of Germany following the fall of the Berlin Wall."
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