Russia plans to carry out a coup in Moldova and bring people loyal to the Kremlin to power, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said during a briefing, as quoted by Radio Liberty Moldova.
According to Sandu, Ukrainian secret services were the ones to make Moldova aware of Russia’s plan. The plan includes attacks on government agencies and hostage taking, which will be masked as protests led by opposition.
According to the plan, the attacks will be carried out by “saboteurs with military training camouflaged as civilians” and people from outside the country. Instructions on how to enter Moldova’s territory for citizens of Russia, Belarus, Serbia, and Montenegro have been discovered.
Sandu also stated that the Kremlin plans to have the support of the Moldovan Șor Party, law enforcement veterans, and people connected to oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, former chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova, who previously left the country.
Sandu explained that this is the way Russia wants to replace the “legitimate government of Chișinău with an illegitimate one”, stop the country’s European integration, and use Moldova in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Moldova’s president asked the parliament to approve laws aimed at strengthening the role of the Security Intelligence Service of Moldova as soon as possible.
Furthermore, Sandu talked about the attempts to “undermine the statehood” of Moldova last autumn which “were unsuccessful due to the rapid response from security and public order agencies”.
“Last autumn, the energy crisis ended up in the spotlight, it was supposed to cause strong discontent in the population and lead to violence,” she clarified.
Last week, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky talked about Russia’s plan to “take control over Moldova” at the EU Summit in Brussels. According to him, the Kremlin has only one goal — to “destroy Europe’s freedom”.
“We don’t know whether Moscow gave an order to act in accordance with this plan against Moldova. But we understood what they are planning to do. We recognised in [the plan] the same thing they’ve already tried against Ukraine, against other states, in particular in Europe. Nothing new,” Zelensky said.
