Caravanserai
Politics

Russian coup plot in Moldova fans fears beyond Ukraine

By Caravanserai and AFP

Moldovan President Maia Sandu gives a speech during the third ministerial conference of the Moldova Support Platform in Paris last November 21. [Yoan Valat/Pool/AFP]

Moldovan President Maia Sandu gives a speech during the third ministerial conference of the Moldova Support Platform in Paris last November 21. [Yoan Valat/Pool/AFP]

CHISINAU, Moldova -- Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Monday (February 13) accused Russia of plotting to violently overthrow the country's pro-European leadership with the help of saboteurs disguised as anti-government protesters.

Moscow's alleged plan would involve "saboteurs with military background, camouflaged in civilian clothes, to undertake violent actions, attacks on state institutions and taking hostages", Sandu told journalists.

Under the guise of "protests by the so-called opposition", the saboteurs would aim to "overthrow the constitutional order and replace the legitimate power of Chisinau with an illegitimate one," she added without taking questions.

Sandu's statement comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week told a European Union (EU) summit that Kyiv had "intercepted the plan for the destruction of Moldova by Russian intelligence".

Moldova on Tuesday (February 14) closed its airspace for over two hours citing safety and security reasons, authorities said, amid tensions between the former Soviet republic and Russia.

A Moldovan newspaper reported that "a foreign drone" was "flying without permission".

Paid protests

Moldova, a country of 2.6 million 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.

Moldovan authorities have accused him of paying the demonstrators and running his pro-Russian party from exile.

Alongside internal forces such as those controlled by Shor, Moscow would allegedly plan to use citizens of Russia, Belarus, Serbia and Montenegro to implement its plans, Sandu said.

Moldova's parliament would therefore need to "quickly adopt" the laws that would provide the country's Intelligence and Security Service and prosecutors with "the necessary means to fight more efficiently against national security threats", she urged.

But the "Kremlin's attempts to bring violence to our country will fail," she said.

Over the past year, the war in neighbouring Ukraine has repeatedly caused multiple security concerns as debris from Russian missiles landed on Moldova's territory after traversing its skies.

Moldova has also suffered energy blackouts after Ukraine stopped exporting electricity because of Russian air strikes on critical infrastructure.

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The Kremlin is an instigator! The "Russian world" is jingoism coupled with imperialistic attitudes toward the neighbouring countries.

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