Moldova’s President Maia Sandu has accused Russia of plotting to destabilize her country, an accusation made earlier by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and vehemently denied by Moscow.
In addition, Moldova closed its airspace Tuesday without giving any immediate explanation, according to Air Moldova.
“Dear passengers, at this moment the airspace of the Republic of Moldova is closed,” the airline said. “We are waiting for the resumption of flights.”
Upheaval in Moldova?
Sandu wrote in a statement posted Monday on the presidential website that in the past few days, “The statements of President Zelensky about the plans of the Russian Federation to destabilize the Republic of Moldova have been confirmed by our institutions.”
Zelensky said last week that his country’s intelligence service intercepted a Russian plan to destabilize Moldova.
Oddly, the next day Moldova’s prime minister and government cabinet resigned. The move came just a few hours after a Russian cruise missile crossed the border into Moldovan territory.
“Russia’s plan to carry out subversive actions on the territory of our state is not new,” she commented.
“Attempts to destabilize the situation and undermine the state were also made last autumn, but they did not achieve their goal thanks to the prompt intervention of our security and public order agencies,” Sandu said.
The Moldovan leader accused Russia of planning a “series of actions involving saboteurs” last fall, saying the infiltrators had “undergone military training and are disguised as civilians to carry out violent actions, attacks on government buildings and hostage-taking.”
Those saboteurs, she said, were also disguised as “the so-called opposition” and had planned to force a change of power in Kishinev through “violent actions.”
The Moldovan president also said that citizens of Russia, Montenegro, Belarus and Serbia were planning to enter Moldova to spark protests aimed at changing the “legitimate government to an illegitimate government controlled by the Russian Federation,” according to Sky News.
Russia Denies Sabotage Claims
The Russian Federation denied the allegations on Tuesday, vehemently rejecting Sandu’s claims and accusing Moldovan officials of trying to distract the public away from the country’s domestic problems.
The claims by Moldova were “absolutely unfounded and unsubstantiated,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson maria Zakharova.
“They are built in the spirit of classical techniques that are often used by the United States, other Western countries and Ukraine,” Zakharova said.
“First, accusations are made with reference to purportedly classified intelligence information that cannot be verified, and then they are used to justify their own illegal actions.”
The Russian spokesperson accused Ukraine of making up the claim in order to create a confrontation between Moscow and Moldova, and said Russia hopes to develop mutually beneficial cooperation.
But the accusations may not be entirely unfounded despite Russia’s protestations to the contrary: Moldova’s national intelligence agency warned last December that Moscow might be planning a new offensive in order to create a land corridor through southern Ukraine to Transnistria – a Moldovan breakaway region in which Russia maintains some 1,500 troops as “peacekeepers.”
US Warns Citizens to Leave Russia ‘Immediately’
The United States issued a statement in response to the reports, calling them “deeply concerning.”
The US also urged its citizens to leave Russia “immediately” in a travel advisory issued by the US Embassy in Moscow.
“Do not travel to Russia” the Embassy said, warning that Russia is singling out US citizens for detention and arbitrarily enforcing local law, among other risks.
Limited flights into and out of Russia, the possibility of terrorism, potential for harassment of US citizens and the unpredictable consequences of the invasion were other reasons cited by the Embassy for the advisory, which also warned that dual citizens could be subject to conscription or mobilization in Russia’s war on Ukraine.
