Moldovans are an romanian-speaking ethnic group which live mainly in eastern Romania, in the Republic of Moldova, where they comprise 76.1% of the population, and in Ukraine where they constitute a recognized ethnic minority (but since 2003, they are recognized as "romanians" and counted to the romanian minority in the Ukraine).
The Moldovans of Romania and Moldova were considered ethnic Romanians until the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia in the 1940s, which led to the formation of the Moldovan SSR. A series of Soviet propaganda campaigns attempted to erase links between Moldova and Romania in order to dissuade any ideas of re-unification of the two states, including an emphasized 'distinct' "Moldovan language", history, culture etc. Most Romanians, as well as a large part of the Moldovan populace, claim that external interference led to Moldova's increasingly separate identity rather than any actual differences.
Certain Moldovans, due to life under the Soviet Union and other factors, have pressed for recognition of an ethnic Moldovan identity, separate to that of Romania. Nevertheless, in the 2004 Moldovan census, about 40% of the population of Moldova reported Romanian as a native tounge, rather than Moldovan. Some differences include religious affiliation, as under the Soviet regime the Orthodox Church of Bessarabia was transferred from the Romanian Orthodox Church to the Russian Orthodox Church. However, immediately after Moldova broke off the USSR, the Romanian Orthodox Church reorganized the Moldovan Metropolitan Church under its authority, forming the autonomous Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia (romanian/moldovan: "Mitropolia Basarabiei"). Moldovans are now split between Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia and the Metropolitan Church of Chisinau and the Whole Moldova which depends on the Russian Patriarchate.