Moldovan authorities are concerned.
Not only before a Russian attack - the country is also apparently seething.
Possibly supported by pro-Russian side.
Chisinau - For months, the Republic of Moldova has feared becoming Russia's next target.
The latest developments are unlikely to dampen concerns: Even after the appointment of the new, pro-European head of government Dorin Recean on Thursday, there have been open pro-Russian protests in the capital Chisinau.
On Monday, Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov also issued a warning to Moldova.
Russia warns Moldova's pro-European government to 'be very, very careful'
Recean and other politicians have repeatedly called for the withdrawal of the Russian military from the breakaway province of Transnistria.
According to a Nexta
report
, he reiterated that the region should be demilitarized and integrated into Moldovan territory .
Russian soldiers are stationed in Transnistria, on the Ukrainian border.
Moldova has been an EU accession candidate since 2022.
Recean didn't have to wait long for an answer from Moscow.
Authorities in the country should be "very, very careful," Peskov said, according to a report by state agency
Ria Novosti
.
The Reuters agency quoted the Kremlin spokesman as saying that relations were extremely "strained".
Moldova is slipping into an "anti-Russian hysteria".
Russia itself is very "responsible" with its troops in Transnistria.
Officially, it is a “peacekeeping” mission.
Moldova under pressure: Putin plans "to destroy the republic"?
Country groans under gas prices
President Maia Sandu, who is also Western-oriented, warned a week ago, citing intelligence information, that Moscow was planning a coup in Moldova.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had also announced something similar.
Kiev intercepted Russian intelligence plans to "destroy Moldova," he said.
Russia rejected this: Sergey Lavrov's Foreign Ministry spoke of an attempt to divert the focus from social and economic problems in Moldova;
one does not interfere in "internal affairs of other countries".
According to a BBC report, rising gas and electricity prices, among other things, have been causing resentment in Moldova since autumn - Sandu also sees both as a result of Russian actions.
For example, Russia has throttled the gas supply.
According to Reuters, the President recently stated that the Kremlin also wanted to start protests with the help of people from Russia, Montenegro, Belarus and Serbia.
As a precaution, the government allowed a European football cup game between the Moldovan club Sherriff Tiraspol and the Serbian club Partisan Belgrade to take place without spectators.
Serbian fans were denied entry, as reported by
n-tv.de,
among others .
"We want to be part of Russia": Pro-Russian party apparently supports protests in Moldova
In fact, there have been protests recently.
Several thousand people took to the streets in Chisinau on Sunday (February 19), the broadcaster France24 reported.
According to the BBC, many of the protesters traveled by bus, financed by the pro-Russian parliamentary party Shor.
In addition to Sandu's resignation, they primarily demanded financial support in view of price increases and high inflation.
+
Marina Tauber, deputy head of the pro-Russian Shor party, at the protests in Chisinau.
© IMAGO/Dmitrij Osmatesko/SNA
However, the BBC also spoke to demonstrators who openly called for a Russian invasion: “We want them to come here.
We want to be part of Russia,” a group of protesters told the broadcaster.
Calls for accession to the Russian Federation had already been heard from Transnistria in the summer of 2022.
Vladimir Putin also referred to calls for help from pro-Russian separatists before invading Ukraine.
Moldova's border guards concerned: "Mix of threats inside and outside"
According to France24, Shor party leader Ilan Shor is currently in exile in Israel.
According to the AP agency, the oligarch is also on the US sanctions list.
The allegation: Shor is working with "corrupt oligarchs and Moscow-based entities to cause political unrest in Moldova".
The Moldovan police had already carried out 20 house searches on Shor members on Saturday, according to France 24. The party in turn complained that the authorities had deployed thousands of police officers to suppress the demonstrations.
So the concern is obviously great - and the situation is confusing.
"If Ukraine falls, Moldova will be next," Rosian Vasiloi, chief of Moldova's border guards, told the BBC.
"But I'm not afraid," he added.
In the meantime, however, there is a “mix of threats from inside and outside Moldova”.
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List of rubrics: © IMAGO/Dmitrij Osmatesko/SNA
