There is no threat of a military invasion of Moldova now, President Maia Sandu said on February 15.
“At the moment there is no direct threat of a military invasion. We owe this to Ukraine,” the head of state said in an interview with a Romanian TV channel. TVR-1.
Earlier on February 15, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a press conference following a meeting of defense ministers of the countries of the military bloc in Brussels said that NATO member countries had agreed to strengthen military support for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Moldova.
On February 13, Sandu appealed to parliament with a request to grant the country’s special services greater powers against the backdrop of an alleged threat of destabilization in the republic. According to her, the opposition wants to change the power in the country by armed means, including the seizure of buildings and hostages. Sandu also stated that the Moldovan authorities allegedly confirmed Ukraine’s information about the existence of “Russia’s plan to destabilize the situation in Moldova.”
The next day, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stated that Moscow resolutely rejects Chisinau’s insinuations about the alleged desire of the Russian Federation to undermine the situation in Moldova. Such statements have no basis and evidence and are built in the spirit of the methods used by the United States, Western countries and the Kiev regime, the diplomat stressed.
Prior to that, on February 9, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that he was allegedly aware of Moscow’s “plans” to change power in Moldova. And he even informed the President of Moldova about it. In turn, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian side has no idea about any plans to destabilize the situation in Moldova.
On February 14, Alexei Zhuravlev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense, in an interview with Izvestia, said that the Moldovan authorities do not care about the population of their country, only following orders from the West, and blaming Russia for their predictable failures is a sweet thing. In his opinion, due to cooperation with the West, Moldova “makes attacks” against Moscow in regard to the presence of Russian troops in Transnistria, although the situation in the region is calm only thanks to the military contingent of the Russian Federation.
On February 2, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moldova could “follow the path of Ukraine.” According to him, the President of the country, Maia Sandu, is eager to join NATO, wants to unite with Romania, and is generally ready for almost anything.
