The plot to overthrow the Moldovan government is worrying
The reports are “deeply troubling” but “not outside the bounds of Russian behavior,” John Kirby told a news conference in response to a question from the media.
“We are categorically with the Moldovan government and the Moldovan people,” he added.
The President of the Republic of Moldova accused Russia, on Monday, of planning to use foreign saboteurs to create diversions and remove from power her pro-Western government. The first to speak about this, however, was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who told EU leaders last week that his intelligence services had discovered such a plan and notified Chisinau.
Maia Sandu announces a violent plan by Russia
The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, announced on Monday that Moscow has a plan to undermine the country, “with the involvement of subversives with military training, camouflaged in civilian clothes, who will undertake violent actions, attacks on some state buildings and hostage taking”. .
She gave a press statement in which she spoke about Russia’s plans to remove power from Chisinau, days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy indicated a plan by Moscow to destroy the Republic of Moldova.
What would be Moscow’s strategy
Maia Sandu said that Russia’s plan of “subversive actions” on the territory of the Republic of Moldova is not a new one – attempts to destabilize the situation and undermine the state also existed last fall, but they did not achieve their goal due to the interventions of the institutions security and ensuring public order. In the October-December period, the police and the Intelligence and Security Service intervened in several cases of “organization of criminal elements and stopped attempts at violence”, said Maia Sandu.
According to her, in the fall, the focus was on the energy crisis, which was supposed to cause major discontent among the population and lead to violent protests.
- “The plan for the next period involves actions with the involvement of saboteurs with military training, camouflaged in civilian clothes, who will undertake violent actions, attack on some state buildings and take hostages.
- Through violent actions, masked under protests of the so-called opposition, the change of power in Chisinau would be forced.
- The documents received from our Ukrainian partners demonstrate a good documentation of the locations and logistical aspects for the organization of these subversive activities. Also, the plan involves the use of people from outside the country for violent actions.
- For example, the materials contain instructions on the rules of entry into the Republic of Moldova for citizens of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, Serbia and Montenegro,” said Maia Sandu.
President Maia Sandu’s statements regarding the destabilization of the situation in the Republic of Moldova certainly have a solid and real support, believes political commentator Ion Tăbârţă in a statement for Radio Chişinău.
The expert emphasized that in the current security context, the change of government in Chisinau also took place. This was not a surprise for anyone, but even a necessity, because the appointment of the presidential advisor on security issues Dorin Recean to the position of prime minister took place against the backdrop of external threats to the Republic of Moldova, Tăbârţă said.
The FSB allegedly directed tens of millions of dollars from some of Russia’s largest state-owned companies to cultivate a network of Moldovan politicians and reorient the country toward Moscow, according to an investigation published by The Washington Post in October 2022.
The pro-Russian party of the controversial Ilan Şor calls the population to new demonstrations
The pro-Russian opposition party of controversial businessman Ilan Şor accused Maia Sandu of attempting to usurp power and called for new protests on Sunday, after the president of the Republic of Moldova proposed that security bodies be granted more prerogatives , writes the Chisinau press.
According to Radio Chisinau, the Şor Party reacted in this way to Maia Sandu’s statements regarding Russia’s plan to destabilize the Republic of Moldova, in which this party was also targeted, founded by the former mayor of Orhei, Ilan Şor, sentenced in 2017 to seven years and six months of prison for fraud and money laundering and given international prosecution.
“Russia does not have the strength now to attack the Republic of Moldova”
The Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mircea Geoană, claims that Russia does not have the strength now to attack the Republic of Moldova and suggests that what it is trying to do now is to discourage the pro-Western vector of the country and divide the population, according to Radio Chisinau.
- “Today, Russia does not have enough forces, because to reach the Transnistrian region, encircling Ukraine from behind, … because this is the plan – to take Odessa and create a land corridor to the Transnistrian region. But we don’t see Russia having the strength to do that.
- What they are trying to do is to discourage the pro-west course of the Republic of Moldova. They are trying to work with the “divisions” that exist in that country, they are trying to undermine the leadership of Maia Sandu and they are trying to make Moldova a Ukraine, a Georgia or a Bosnia.
- The only thing I want to say is that Russia has neither the ability nor the intention to start a war against NATO. They have enough problems in Ukraine”, said Geoană.
He made these statements on Monday, in a press conference held in Berlin, when asked about the recent statements of the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, who said that the Republic of Moldova is the next country that risks repeating the fate of Ukraine.
Moscow accused the West, through the voice of its Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, of wanting to “turn the Republic of Moldova into a new Ukraine”.
We remind you that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on Thursday, in Brussels, that Ukraine intercepted a plan by the Russian secret services to destroy the Republic of Moldova.
