President Maia Sandu has released details of an alleged plan to overthrow the pro-European power, after receiving information from Ukrainian intelligence.
Maia Sandu, President of Moldova, accuses Moscow of fomenting a coup against her country. The leader notably mentioned possible “attacks on government buildings” And “hostage-taking by saboteurs with a military past camouflaged in civilian clothes”during a press conference, Monday, February 13. “The goal is to overthrow the constitutional order and replace the legitimate power of Chisinau with an illegitimate one”she added.
According to her, the Kremlin is counting on “involvement of internal forces” such as the party of fugitive pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Sor, but also possible Russian, Belarusian, Serbian and Montenegrin nationals. Maia Sandu has announced a legislative project to give prosecutors and intelligence services “the instruments needed to effectively combat national security risks”.
This information, which comes from documents intercepted by the Ukrainian secret services, had already been mentioned by Volodymyr Zelensky. The Russian Foreign Ministry, for its part, denounced (in Russian) Tuesday “completely unfounded allegations”which use the “myth of the Russian threat” in order to “divert the attention of Moldovan citizens from the internal problems faced by the country”.
A pro-Russian formation calls for demonstrations
Moldova, a candidate since the summer of 2022 to join the European Union, has been going through crises since the start of the war in Ukraine and has been denouncing for several months “Russia’s energy blackmail”, which has halved its gas deliveries. The formation of the pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Sor announced a rally, scheduled for Sunday, to “force the government to pay Moldovans’ energy bills in full for the winter.” Chisinau must also deal with the threat of Russian soldiers and a large Russian stockpile of ammunition in the pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria.
On Friday, Moldova detected a projectile probably fired from the Black Sea, having flown over two villages on its way to Ukraine. The Russian ambassador had been summoned in the process, had then commented the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to franceinfo, “in order to notify the Russian side of the unacceptable violation of our airspace by a Russian missile over the sovereign territory of the Republic of Moldova”.
“The security of citizens and the country is our primary concern and we will do whatever is necessary to protect peace and public order”concluded Maia Sandu on Monday. “The Kremlin’s attempts will not succeed.”