Russia rejects Moldova President’s claim of plot to overthrow her government as Ukraine war anniversary nears

PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC – OCTOBER 06: Moldovan President Maia Sandu arrives for the inaugural meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) at Prague Castle on October 06, 2022 in Prague, Czech Republic. Leaders from countries of the new European Political Community, which includes member states of the European Union as well as 17 other countries from across Europe, including Ukraine, are meeting today at Prague Castle. The EPC was first proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron and is a reaction to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. The EPC also includes Armenia and Azerbaijan, who are currently in a simmering military conflict with one another. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Russia angrily rejected the Moldovan president’s claims about an alleged plot by Moscow to overthrow her government and accused Moldovan authorities of trying to distract public attention away from the country’s own domestic problems.

Moldova’s President Maia Sandu said that the purported Russian plot envisioned attacks on government buildings, hostage-takings and other violent actions by groups of saboteurs in order to put the nation “at the disposal of Russia” and derail its hopes to join the European Union.

Responding Tuesday, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed Sandu’s claims as “absolutely unfounded and unsubstantiated”.

“They are built in the spirit of classical techniques that are often used by the United States, other Western countries and Ukraine,” Zakharova said.

“First, accusations are made with reference to purportedly classified intelligence information that cannot be verified, and then they are used to justify their own illegal actions.”

Maria Zakharova (Wikipedia/CC BY 3.0/Сурен)

Sandu’s claim came a week after neighbouring Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country had intercepted plans by Russian secret services to destroy Moldova.

Moldovan intelligence officials later said that they confirmed the allegations.

Zakharova charged that Ukrainian authorities made up the claim about a purported Russian plan to destabilize Moldova in order to draw it into a confrontation with Russia.

She argued that Moldovan authorities used “the myth about a Russian threat to distract Moldovan citizens’ attention from internal problems resulting from a disastrous social-economic course of the current administration and to step up the fight against dissent and political opponents”.

Zakharova insisted that Russia poses no threat to Moldova and hopes to develop mutually beneficial cooperation.

Since Russian troops rolled into Ukraine nearly a year ago, Moldova, a former Soviet republic of about 2.6 million people, has sought to forge closer ties with its Western partners.

Last June, it was granted EU membership candidate status, the same day as Ukraine.

In December, Moldova’s national intelligence agency warned that Russia could launch a new offensive with the aim of creating a land corridor through southern Ukraine to Moldova’s Moscow-backed breakaway region of Transnistria.

Transnistria broke away after a 1992 civil war but is not recognised by most countries.

It extends roughly 250 miles from the eastern bank of the Dniester River to the country’s border with Ukraine.

Russia has about 1,500 troops nominally as “peacekeepers” in the breakaway region.

Press Association – Associated Press 

For all the latest Lifestyle News Click Here 

 For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! TheDailyCheck is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected] The content will be deleted within 24 hours.