MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT WARNS OF RUSSIAN PLOT TO TOPPLE PRO-EUROPEAN LEADERSHIP

Mon 13 February 2023:

On Monday, Maia Sandu, the president of Moldova, accused Russia of planning to use saboteurs posing as demonstrators to violently remove the country’s pro-European administration.

President Maia Sandu made her comments after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week his country had uncovered a Russian intelligence plan “for the destruction of Moldova”, and days after the country’s government resigned.

Sandu, whose country borders Ukraine, has repeatedly expressed concern about Moscow’s intentions towards the former Soviet republic and about the presence of Russian troops in the breakaway Transdniestria region.

She said the plan involved citizens of Russia, Montenegro, Belarus and Serbia entering Moldova to try to spark protests in an attempt to “change the legitimate government to an illegal government controlled by the Russian Federation.”

“The Kremlin’s attempts to bring violence to Moldova will not work. Our main goal is the security of citizens and the state. Our goal is peace and public order in the country,” Sandu told a news briefing.

Sandu’s statement comes after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky last week told a European Union summit that Kyiv had “intercepted the plan for the destruction of Moldova by Russian intelligence”.

Moldova, a country of 2.6 million people neighbouring Romania and Ukraine, received EU candidate status in the summer of 2022, but over the past year has been faced with numerous anti-government protests organised by a fugitive oligarch named Ilan Shor.

Russia denied last year wanting to intervene in Moldova after authorities in Transdniestria said they had been targeted by a series of attacks.

The war in neighboring Ukraine has repeatedly raised security concerns, with debris from Russian missiles landing on Moldovan territory after flying over it.

Moldova also experienced power outages after Ukraine stopped exporting electricity as a result of Russian airstrikes on critical infrastructure.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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