Russia is plotting to violently overthrow Moldova's pro-European leadership with the help of saboteurs disguised as anti-government protesters, Moldova's President Maia Sandu said on Monday.
Ms Sandu said the plan would involve "saboteurs with military background, camouflaged in civilian clothes, to undertake violent actions, attacks on state institutions and taking hostages".
Under the guise of "protests by the so-called opposition", the saboteurs would aim to "overthrow the constitutional order and replace the legitimate power of Chisinau with an illegitimate one", she said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week told an EU summit that Kyiv had "intercepted the plan for the destruction of Moldova by Russian intelligence".
Moldova, a country of 2.6 million people neighbouring Romania and Ukraine, received EU candidate status in the summer of 2022.
But over the past year it has faced anti-government protests organised by a fugitive oligarch named Ilan Shor.
Russia and Ukraine conflict latest - in pictures
-
A tank, seen left, fires a round in Soledar, a town in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Reuters -
Tank fire in Soledar, Donetsk. Reuters -
Firefighters work to put out a blaze at a Kharkiv fireworks storage site after it was struck by a Russian missile. Getty -
Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces, visits his troops on the frontline in Soledar, Donetsk. Reuters -
A Ukrainian flag attached to a tank flutters in the wind in Bakhmut. Reuters -
A specialist from an emergency crew works on a residential building in Donetsk that was damaged in recent shelling. Reuters -
A missile fragment left by shelling in Russian-controlled Donetsk. AP -
Residents remove debris and carry their belongings out of a building destroyed by recent shelling in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine. Reuters -
Ukrainian forces fire an anti-aircraft weapon as Russia's attack on the frontline city of Bakhmut continues. Reuters -
A car drives past a destroyed building purported to have been used as temporary accommodation for Russian soldiers, dozens of whom were killed in a Ukrainian missile strike in Makiivka, Russian-controlled Ukraine. Reuters -
The site of a temporary barracks for Russian soldiers in Makiivka, which was destroyed in a Ukrainian missile attack. Reuters -
A Ukrainian serviceman carries his injured comrade from the battlefield to a hospital in the Donetsk region. AP -
Smoke rises after shelling in Soledar, the site of heavy battles with Russian forces in the Donetsk region. AP
Ms Sandu said that, along with internal forces such as those controlled by Mr Shor, Moscow would use foreign citizens from Russia, Belarus, Serbia and Montenegro to implement its plans.
Moldova's Parliament would therefore need to "quickly adopt" the laws that would provide the country's Intelligence and Security Service and the prosecutors with "the necessary means to fight more efficiently against national security threats", she said.
But the "Kremlin's attempts to bring violence to our country will fail", she said.
Putin says world facing most dangerous decade since Second World War - video
Over the past year, the war in Ukraine has repeatedly caused security concerns as debris from Russian missiles landed on Moldovan territory.
Moldova also suffered energy blackouts after Ukraine stopped exporting electricity because of Russian airvstrikes on critical infrastructure.
