russia plotting coup in Moldova – Sandu

Moldovan President Maia Sandu confirmed that Ukraine handed over to her the kremlin's plans to destabilize the situation in Moldova with forceful actions involving saboteurs from outside the country — from russia, belarus, and the Balkans.

As Newsmaker reported, she stated this at a special briefing.

"This is a short-term plan that involves sabotage with persons with military training disguised as civilians. They are planning violent actions, including attacks on some state institutions and taking hostages," Maia Sandu said.

According to her, the intelligence materials transferred by Kyiv contain detailed documentation of the logistics for organizing these provocative actions.

"The plan envisages the use of people from outside the country for violent actions in Moldova. For example, the materials contain instructions for citizens of russia, belarus, Serbia, and Montenegro to enter Moldova," the president added.

Sandu also said that an attempt to seize power in Chisinau is being prepared under the guise of peaceful protests, adding the security forces of Moldova are preparing to prevent these provocations and are keeping the situation under control.

At the EU summit in Brussels, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian intelligence intercepted the kremlin's plans to take control of Moldova, after which the Ukrainian leader immediately passed all the information to his counterpart, President Maia Sandu.

"We don't know if moscow has already ordered to act according to this plan against Moldova. But we saw what they were going to do. We recognized in this exactly what they were already trying to do against Ukraine, against other states, in particular in Europe. Nothing new," said Zelensky.

russia has repeatedly made sharp and rude attacks against Moldova and the Moldovan leadership, particularly after the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Among the latter, russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov said that they were trying to create a "second Ukraine" out of Moldova, which the foreign policy department of the state sharply commented on.