It is anticipated that in his State of the Union Address on Thursday night, President Biden would advocate for increased military assistance to Ukraine. Concern over Russia’s intentions toward Moldova is growing as the third year of the Ukrainian conflict approaches. Located between Romania and Ukraine, this former Soviet country would be helpless against Russian soldiers. The survival of Moldova’s small evangelical community would be extremely precarious if a takeover occurred.
Four Russian KGB officers visited the Moldovan house of Pastor Alexandr Belev of Church Without Walls when he was seven years old. “All us 5 siblings had to sit in one room as they searched the house for Christian literature, Bibles, and anything related to Christianity,” he says. That morning in 1982, the agents discovered a variety of Christian items within the residence. Belev’s father was a well-known underground Baptist pastor who was taken to prison and imprisoned for the following 2.5 years because of his religious beliefs. Even a covert video of his father being led through jail gates that day was sent to CBN News.
Now, 42 years later, Belev is the pastor of a church in Chisinau, the capital city of Moldova, and he may experience the same kind of Christian persecution that his father did. “Two years after the war in Ukraine, we know the very real scenario that Russia could easily invade Moldova, and if that happens we’ll have the same type of persecution that is happening today in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia and like it was during Soviet times,” Belev stated. Nestled between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova is home to almost three million people. Slightly more than a hundred miles from Moldova’s border, Russia has been engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces.
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