<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">A short drive from Ukraine's southern border, hundreds of Russian troops guard a vast Soviet-era ammunition depot in Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This depot, these soldiers and this pro-Russian separatist region are under increasing global scrutiny.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the past few weeks, accusations have flown between Russia, Ukraine and Moldova over alleged plots to destabilise Moldova, and warnings about the potential for conflict to erupt here again.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Moldova's prime minister, Dorin Recean, has said Russian troops should be expelled from the region, amid warnings from President Maia Sandu that Moscow is planning to topple her pro-western government.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia, meanwhile, has been talking up the threat of a "false flag" attack by Ukrainian forces - and warned that any attack on its troops in Transnistria would be seen as an attack on Russia itself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many western analysts point out that Transnistria could provide Russia with another entry point into Ukraine, forcing Ukrainian troops away from other areas of fighting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So Transnistria - controlled by pro-Russian separatists since Moldova's civil war in 1992 - is being closely watched globally, but also by those much closer to home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The warnings and threats about fresh conflict here hang heavy over the village of Molovata Noua.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is a tiny Moldovan enclave, jammed up against Transnistrian territory and separated from the rest of Moldova by the River Dneister.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If residents of Chisinau feel vulnerable, residents of Molovata Noua feel completely exposed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many of the older men here fought pro-Russian separatists for this land 30 years ago. They're wondering now if they'll have to fight here again.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Friday, veterans of that conflict gathered in Molovata Noua for an annual pilgrimage across the line of control into Transnistria, to honour those who died.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Two dozen men in military fatigues, bright medals on their chests and darkness behind their eyes. Among them, 62-year-old Vlad Untila.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We're lucky that Ukraine is defending us at the moment," he said, "but if it kicks off in Moldova, we're ready to defend this territory again."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Their convoy of cars makes its way down the deserted dirt road from Molovata Noua into the breakaway pro-Russian territory - crossing into enemy territory as they did three decades ago.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"See how they look at us," Vlad growls, as his car approaches the Russian checkpoint.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A gaggle of armed soldiers eye the convoy, as it carries men in Moldovan military fatigues into separatist territory, turning a blind eye to this eye-catching annual ritual.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Look around you," Vlad says, "this is where we fought - it was all a battlefield."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now the narrow dirt road cuts through the silent countryside, flanked by brown fields and broken winter trees.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's hard because I feel I'm in my own country," his friend Constantin joins in. "It's my own land, and yet I can't walk freely here."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A short drive beyond the checkpoint, hidden in brambles by the side of the road, is the first stop on the pilgrimage - a simple blue cross made from metal poles.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It marks the spot, 31 years ago, where a local mayor was killed. The veterans gather round with a garland of flowers and a plastic bottle full of wine, to toast their fallen comrades.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They follow the trail of pale blue monuments dotted through this territory, repeating the ritual at every stop, honouring their comrades, siblings, and friends.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We were both snipers," Vlad remembers, at the spot his friend Vasea was killed. "They were shooting at us from that hill over there, from a tank. One of the shrapnel fragments hit him in the neck. He fell to the ground and died in my arms."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As the veterans pass a local Moldovan school, pupils come out to greet them, led by their headmistress Tatiana Rosca.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"There were big battles here in 1992," Tatiana says. "And there are still deep wounds in the souls of the people. We're very afraid: we know what war means and we don't wish it on anyone."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of her pupils says she's ready to take up arms if conflict erupts again, as her father and grandfather did 30 years ago.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But loyalties here - as in the rest of Moldova - are complicated by history, geography and economics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here on the other side of the River Dniester, the pull of Moldovan identity is set against the pull of subsidised Russian gas from Transnistria. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>