What was the official Soviet viewpoint on the ethnicity of the Moldavians or Moldovans?
There's another group in the area, the Gagauz, who are Orthodox Christians but speak a language of the Turkish family. They are apparently found in Moldova, Romania, and Bulgaria...a fairly small group.
Moldova must not be confused with Moldava, the Spanish name for the Moldau or Vltava, the river which flows through Prague (as in Smetana's Die Moldau).