Moldova closed it airspace temporarily on February 14 following a warning by President Maia Sandu that Russia was planning destabilizing actions by using agents provocateurs.
Moldova’s airspace was closed for one hour for security reasons, the country’s Civilian Aeronautic Authority said in a statement, adding that it was reopened at 2:47 p.m. local time (1247 GMT/UTC). No further details were given.
Russia on February 14 denied Sandu’s accusation the previous day that saboteurs, including foreign citizens, would attack government buildings under the guise of public protests at Moscow’s behest.
Sandu on February 13 said she had received documents from the Ukrainian intelligence services that showed Moscow was planning actions against her country.
“Documents received from our Ukrainian partners show documentation of the locations and logistical aspects of organizing these subversions,” Sandu said.
“The plan also involves the use of people from outside the country for violent actions,” she added, calling for “maximum vigilance.”
Sandu said the Russian plan involved “diversionists with military training and camouflaged in civilian clothes,” and that instructions were discovered for citizens from Serbia, Russia, Belarus, and Montenegro to enter Moldova to carry it out.
“Such claims are completely unfounded and unsubstantiated,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that also accused Ukraine of seeking to raise tensions between Moscow and Chisinau and draw Moldova “into a tough confrontation with Russia.”
Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic on February 14 also rejected Sandu’s statement about the possible participation of Serbian citizens in subversive actions in Moldova.
Dacic demanded that Moldova urgently submit all the information it has because, as he stated, Serbia had never received such information from Moldova.
“I have ordered our ambassador to Chisinau to urgently request clarification about the statement…as well as to urgently provide us with all information about the people who are suspected of being participants in such violent actions,” Dacic said.
Montenegro’s prime minister, Dritan Abazovic, said on February 14 that he had no information that individuals from Montenegro were planning to destabilize Moldova.
“We will try to get in touch with their cabinet for additional information. If necessary, our security services will carry out additional checks. If they have any more information, we are ready to hear it,” Abazovic told RFE/RL.
“It creates the impression that Montenegro is interfering in the problems that exist in Moldova,” Abazovic said.
Abazovic noted that NATO member Montenegro is completely aligned with the EU sanctions policy against Russia.
Sandu’s news conference on February 13 came amid a government crisis after Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita resigned on February 10.
Seeking to prevent a deepening of the crisis, Sandu immediately appointed Dorin Recean, her defense and security adviser, to lead a new government.
The alleged plan came to light on February 9, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told an EU summit in Brussels that Kyiv had “intercepted the plan for the destruction of Moldova by Russian intelligence.”
Zelenskiy said the plan was very similar to the one devised by Russia to take over Ukraine. He added that he did not know whether Moscow ultimately ordered the plan to be carried out.
The White House called the reports “deeply concerning,” with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby saying on February 13 that while they had not been independently confirmed, it is “certainly not outside the bounds of Russian behavior, and we absolutely stand with the Moldovan government and the Moldovan people.”
