It has been proposed that Transnistria, a separatist breakaway state internationally recognized as part of Moldova, be annexed by Russia. Transnistria is a territory that separated itself from Moldova due to fear of a possible unification of the latter with Romania. This sparked the Transnistria War of 1992, in which the Russian-backed Transnistria managed to stay separate from Moldova. Despite this, Transnistria is legally and internationally considered as a part of Moldova.
Following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, hopes in Transnistria that Russia would annex the territory as well appeared. Transnistria is a territory with a substantial ethnic Russian population where the vast majority of its people speaks Russian. Transnistria is financed financially by Russia, and Transnistrian education and laws are also interrelated with the country. In fact, a referendum in Transnistria organized by the first President of Transnistria Igor Smirnov was held in 2006 to vote for a possible reintegration into Moldova or independence and a future accession to the Russian Federation, with the former proposal being rejected and the latter one approved. However, the veracity of these results has been questioned.
Due to all of this, exactly on the same day that Russia annexed Crimea, the leader of the Transnistrian parliament Mikhail Burla sent a letter to Russia requesting to facilitate a possible Russian annexation of Transnistria in the country's laws, which had a negative response from the international community. The topic was mentioned on numerous more occasions by different Transnistrian politicians such as the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Transnistria Nina Shtanski, the former Transnistrian president Yevgeny Shevchuk (who issued an unsuccessful decree in 2016 to eventually make Transnistria join Russia) and the current one, Vadim Krasnoselsky. Some figures from Russia such as Zakhar Prilepin, Vladimir Zhirinovsky and the For Truth party have responded positively to such a possibility.
But some analysts believe that Russia will not try to annex Transnistria. Russia officially strives for granting a special status to Transnistria within Moldova, possibly to exert influence over the entire country. An annexation of Transnistria by Russia would be counterproductive to this goal, especially considering that it could accelerate a unification between Moldova and Transnistria. Furthermore, Transnistria is far from Russia and landlocked, and creating a nationalist discourse in the latter to promote the annexation of the territory would be considerably more difficult than doing it with Crimea for example.