Moldova does not currently face “imminent military danger” but is subject to “hybrid warfare generated by Russia” in a bid to “overthrow state power”, its defence minister told AFP in an interview Monday.
Anatolie Nosatii sat down for an interview with AFP at his office in Chisinau, after the latest in a string of anti-government protests erupted over the weekend in the small ex-Soviet nation.
“Imminent military danger against Moldova currently doesn’t exist, but there are other types of dangers that affect the country’s security — hybrid warfare,” Nosatii told AFP.
By generating “disinformation, tensions inside our society”, Russia was attempting to “change the political order, destabilise and overthrow state power,” the 50-year-old minister said.
Pro-European Moldova has repeatedly accused Moscow of plotting to violently topple its government through saboteurs disguised as anti-government protesters, claims which Russia denied.
“The greatest challenge right now is a set of provocations that the Russian Federation is trying to use to destabilise the situation.”
On Sunday, Moldovan police arrested members of a network seeking to undermind the country they suspected of being orchestrated by Moscow.
Authorities said they had acted after “receiving information on the organisation by Russian special services of destabilising actions on our territory via demonstrations”.
The White House on Friday accused Russia of seeking to destabilise Moldova in order to install a pro-Russian government.
