Leaders of Moldova who support the EU have urged for calm and refuted Russian assertions that Ukraine intends to assault the country’s breakaway pro-Russian area.
Without providing any supporting proof, the Russian defense ministry claimed that Ukrainian saboteurs planned to orchestrate an invasion of Transnistria while posing as Russian soldiers to justify an invasion by their country.
Weeks ago, Moldova issued a warning that Russia was preparing a coup.
As part of the conflict, officials also dismissed Russia’s assertions that they were “psy-ops.”
According to state secretary Valeriu Mija, “the defense ministry thinks it’s part of a psychological operation rather than an actual plot.”
The president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, warned of extraordinary security challenges while visiting neighboring Romania.
She stated that “some wanted our nation to crumble and a puppet regime devoted to Kremlin interests to be installed in Chisinau.”
Although Moldova is not a member of NATO, it received EU candidate status on the same day as Ukraine in June of last year. The president of the Republic of Moldova visited with her earlier this week, and he assured her that he would uphold the sovereignty of her nation.
challenges resulting from the fighting in Ukraine
Moldova, which has a population of barely 2.6 million people, has one of the worst economies in Europe and has been severely impacted by the conflict in Ukraine.
Because to its outdated power infrastructure from the Soviet era, it has had a severe energy problem. In addition to limiting its gas shipments, Russia also attacked Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure, which had a ripple effect.
The populist and pro-Russian Sor party, led by fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, has organized demonstrations in response to the mounting challenges brought on by rampant inflation and a significant number of refugees from Ukraine.
The number of occurrences that the new prime minister Dorin Recean refers to as “hybrid attacks” appears to have increased.
On the day his predecessor’s administration disintegrated earlier this month due to what he called “several crises,” a Russian missile was fired at Ukraine over Moldovan airspace.
Following numerous crises, the Moldovan government resigns.
Russian saboteurs from Russia, Serbia, Belarus, and Montenegro are being deployed, according to President Sandu, in a plot to overthrow the government of Moldova. They would target government buildings, take hostages, and then start protests to overthrow the current administration and install one “at the service of Russia,” according to her.
Twelve Serbian football supporters had their entry to a game in Chisinau denied shortly after she finished speaking.
The Kremlin charged that the authorities of Moldova had descended into anti-Russian hysteria and cautioned them to be “very, very careful” with their words.
Moldova’s internal socio-economic stability, according to political analyst Dmitry Cenusa, is the country’s weakest point for groups that support Russia. He claimed that if Russia failed in the short term, it might prevail in the local elections this year and the 2024 presidential election.
the independent state of Moldova
Between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian border, on Moldova’s eastern flank, is a small area of land known as Transnistria. It declared independence from Moldova in 1990 as the Soviet Union broke up and was largely populated by Russian speakers.
In 1992, after a brief border conflict, 1,500 Russian forces stationed there began to enforce the cease-fire. One year ago, there were immediate concerns that Russian forces would attempt to seize Odesa and the entire coast leading to Transnistria.
Although it has not occurred, what the leaders of Moldova are warning of right now is similar of what took place in April 2022.
The separatist authorities in Transnistria said that a military unit, an ancient Soviet-era radio mast, and a state security headquarters were the targets of a string of unexplained explosions.
The authorities in Transnistria blamed Ukrainian “infiltrators” at the time as well. Invoking the special services of Russia, Kiev accused them of wanting to threaten Moldova and disturb the peace.
This Monday, a pro-secessionist social media outlet claimed to have spotted Ukrainian military equipment on the highway between Ukraine and Moldova, but an unconvincing image showed only a few modest armored vehicles and a Ukrainian flag.
Although the people of Transnistria are not in a panic, Oleg Belyakov, the director of the country’s peacekeeping organization, claimed that the Russian warnings “provide causes for severe worry.”
