CHISINAU, Moldova — Moldova’s president on Monday outlined what she described as Moscow conspiring to overthrow her country’s government with external saboteurs, making the nation “available to Russia” and scuttling its aspirations to one day join the European Union .
President Maia Sandu’s briefing comes a week after neighboring Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country had intercepted plans by Russian intelligence agencies to destroy Moldova, claims later confirmed by Moldovan intelligence officials.
“The plan for the next period calls for actions involving military-trained diversionists, disguised in civilian clothes, who will carry out violent actions, attack some state buildings and even take hostages,” Sandu told reporters at a briefing.
Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine almost a year ago, Moldova, a former Soviet republic of about 2.6 million people, has sought to forge closer ties with its Western partners. Last June, it was granted EU candidate status on the same day as Ukraine.
Sandu said the purpose of the alleged Russian conspiracy was to “overthrow the constitutional order, transforming the legitimate power of (Moldova’s capital) Chisinau into an illegitimate one,” which she said “which would provide our country to Russia to stop.” the European integration process.”
She defiantly swore: “The Kremlin’s attempts to bring violence into our country will not succeed.”
There was no immediate response from Russian officials to Sandu’s claims.
Sandu said that between October and December, the Moldovan police and its intelligence and security service, SIS, intervened in “several cases of elements of organized crime and stopped attempts at violence.”
Over the past year, non-NATO member Moldova has faced a number of problems. These include a severe energy crisis after Moscow drastically cut gas supplies; skyrocketing inflation; and several incidents in recent months involving missiles that have traversed its skies and debris found on its territory.
Moldovan authorities confirmed that another missile from the war in Ukraine had entered their airspace on Friday.
Tensions in Moldova also rose last April after a series of explosions in Transnistria – a Russian-backed separatist region of Moldova where Russia has about 1,500 troops – which had sparked fears it could be drawn into Russia’s war in Ukraine. Transnistria has a population of about 470,000 and has been under the control of separatist authorities since a civil war in 1992.
Sandu claimed Russia wanted to use Moldova in the war against Ukraine, without giving further details, and that information obtained by intelligence agencies included what she described as instructions on entry requirements for citizens of Russia, Belarus, Serbia and Montenegro to enter Moldova.
“I assure you that the state institutions are working to prevent these challenges and keep the situation under control,” Sandu said.
She said the Parliament of Moldova must pass bills to equip its intelligence and security service and prosecutor’s office “with the necessary tools to more effectively combat risks to the country’s security.”
Costin Ciobanu, a political scientist at Royal Holloway University of London, said there was likely “enormous pressure” on Moldovan authorities to explain more to the public after Zelenskyy first released the security information in Brussels last week.
“President Sandu’s announcement today legitimizes the narrative that Moldova needs to focus on its security,” he told The Associated Press. “Probably now they are more certain about these types of attempts by Russians based on the evidence they have received.”
He added that Sandu’s IPO could also be a pre-emptive attempt to thwart “Russia’s attempts to destabilize Moldova,” just as Western officials denounced the Kremlin’s war plans ahead of its invasion of Ukraine.
The president added that the plan would “rely on several internal forces, but particularly on criminal groups” and named two Moldovan oligarchs, Ilan Shor and Vladimir Plahotniuc, both currently in exile. Both men were sanctioned by the US and UK last year
Last fall, a series of mass anti-government protests organized by Shor’s populist, pro-Russian Shor party also rocked Moldova amid the energy crisis.
Monday’s presidential press conference follows the surprise resignation of Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita on Friday. On the same day, Sandu appointed her defense and security adviser, pro-Western economist Dorin Recean, to succeed Gavrilita.
On Friday, after Moldovan authorities confirmed the missile incident, US State Department Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters in Washington that “Russia has for years supported influence and destabilization campaigns in Moldova, often involving arming Corruption goes to achieve its goals.”
McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania