Moldova’s President confirms the “Russian plan”: With the help of militarily trained people from Serbia, Montenegro and Belarus, carry out a coup d’état

Moldovan President Maya Sandu today confirmed that Russia plans to carry out a coup d’état with the help of opposition protests and the involvement of militarily trained people from countries such as Belarus, Serbia and Montenegro, newsmaker.md reports.

“The plan includes sabotage and military-trained people disguised as civilians to carry out acts of violence, attacks on government buildings and hostage-taking,” Sandu said at a press conference, noting that this is not the first time Russia has planned to carry out such actions in Moldova.

“Reports from our Ukrainian partners point to the locations and logistical aspects of the organisation of this subversive activity. The plan also envisages the use of foreigners for violent actions,” Sandu said.

She also indicated that Russia has contacted some internal forces to implement its plan, such as the pro-Russian Republican Movement for Equality (SOR), veterans and former agents, and people known for their links to Moscow, such as Moldovan oligarchs, Ilana Shor and Volodymyr Plahotniuk both of whom are currently in exile. Both were sanctioned by the US and Britain last year, AP reports.

Last autumn, a series of mass anti-government protests organised by Shor’s populist, pro-Russian party, Shor, also rocked Moldova in the midst of the energy crisis.

The aim, as she explained, would be to “overthrow the constitutional order” and change the legitimate government into one that would put the country “at the disposal of Russia”, not only to “stop the process of European integration” but also “for Russia to use Moldova in its war against Ukraine”.

Sandu therefore called on the Parliament to speed up as much as possible the deadlines for the adoption of a series of laws that will provide the prosecutor’s office and other bodies with the necessary tools “to fight more effectively against the risks to the security of the country”.

She also stressed that “all those who participate in such acts and those who protect them must be held accountable”. She warned the Kremlin that its attempts to “bring violence” “will not succeed”.

These statements also confirm the warnings of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who revealed to Sand during a visit to Brussels last week that they had intercepted a Russian plan to “destroy the democratic order in Moldova”.

We remind that on 9 February, Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the European Council in Brussels that he had informed Maya Sandu that Ukrainian intelligence had “managed to intercept a detailed Russian plan to destroy the political situation in Moldova”.

“A Russian document showing who will destroy Moldova and the democratic order of this country, when and, consequently, with what actions,” said Zelenskiy, stressing that it was still unknown whether Moscow had ordered the implementation of the plan.

Zelenskiy’s words were confirmed by the Moldovan Intelligence and Security Service (SIS).

“We are taking operational measures to detect attempts to destabilise the country and are working closely with the special services of our partners. In this context, SIS confirms that, on the basis of information provided by our Ukrainian partners, as well as as a result of the operational work of the Service, they have detected sabotage activities aimed at undermining the situation in Moldova, destabilising and disrupting public order,” the SIS said, indicating that it could not provide details at this time.

According to AP, Sandu said that between October and December, the Moldovan police and SIS intervened in “several cases of organised crime and stopped attempts of violence”.

Over the past year, Moldova, which is not a NATO member, has faced a series of problems – a severe energy crisis after Moscow dramatically cut gas supplies; soaring inflation; and several incidents over the past few months involving missiles crossing its skies and debris found on its territory.

The Moldovan authorities confirmed that another missile from the war in Ukraine entered its airspace on Friday.