>>514010841 (OP)
1356-1812: part of the Romanian principality of Moldavia
1812: annexed by Russia for mostly strategic reasons, some light Russification begins
1859: what remains of Moldavia unites with Wallachia to form Romania
1918: Russian empire collapses. Moldavians in the region vote to join Romania.
1920s: The USSR, salty about losing the region, sets up a 'Moldovan SSR' across the border in Ukraine.
1918-1940: Part of Romania, treated mostly as a backwater
1940: Seized by the USSR as planned by Molotov-Ribbentrop when Romania caves to their demands.
1941: Seized back by Romania during Barbarossa
1944: Seized back by the USSR during the counter-invasion.
1944-1991: To prevent it from joining Romania again in the future, USSR steps up Russification. They deport a bunch of Romanians to the steppes and bring in Russians and Ukrainians to replace them.
They expand the Moldovan SSR across the Dniester so it has a firm East Slavic minority that can rule the province. Romanians become second-class citizens. Russian becomes the primary language, the Romanian language in the region is renamed to Moldovan and is switched to the Cyrillic script from Latin.
1991: Moldova gains independence as the USSR breaks apart. There is some support for rejoining Romania but the status of East Slavic minorities, politicians and Transnistria (who would lose their powerful positions if ruled by Romanians), as well as the instability and poverty in Romania at the time put a stop to those efforts.
1991-present day: Unification sentiment dissipates as Moldavians develop their own separate identity. They do put an end to the whole 'Moldovan language' larp.
Basically Moldovans are partially Russified Romanians. All of them I've met speak fluent Russian and aren't fond of Romanians. They want to join the EU, but not Romania.