Moldovan president claims Russia is plotting to overthrow her government

Moldovan President Maia Sandu said Monday that there was a plot by Russian operatives to overthrow her country's leadership and place Moldova "at the disposal of Russia."

Sandu's warning comes just one week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country had intercepted a Russian plan for the "destruction of Moldova."

"The plan for the next period involves actions with the involvement of diversionists with military training, camouflaged in civilian clothes, who will undertake violent actions, attack some state buildings, and even take hostages," Sandu said, per The Associated Press, adding that the purpose of Russia's actions was to "overthrow the constitutional order, to change the legitimate power from [Moldovan capital] Chisinau to an illegitimate one."

Sandu added, "The Kremlin's attempts to bring violence to our country will not succeed." The Russian government did not immediately respond to Sandu's allegations.

AP noted that since the outbreak of the Ukrainian war, Moldova, a former Soviet republic and European Union state that borders Ukraine, "has sought to forge closer ties with its Western partners," but has faced a range of pressures from Russia against doing so.

These problems include "a severe energy crisis after Moscow dramatically reduced gas supplies; skyrocketing inflation; and several incidents in recent months involving missiles that have traversed its skies," per AP. 

Though Moldova has been mostly able to avoid violence, the political turmoil reached a breaking point last week after Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița announced she was resigning, along with her pro-Western cabinet. Sandu nominated Dorin Recean, a noted pro-EU figure, as the new prime minister to try and stablize the crumbling government.

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