Moldova’s President Maia Sandu says now-deceased Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin planned a coup against her earlier this year as part of a wider strategy to destabilize the country.
“The information that we have is that it was a plan prepared by [Prigozhin’s] team,” Sandu said in an interview with the Financial Times, adding that Wagner’s groups wanted to spark “violent” anti-government protests.
“The situation is really dramatic and we have to protect ourselves,” she added. Prigozhin, who staged a failed coup against the Kremlin in June, died in a plane crash two months later.
In February, Sandu told reporters of a planned coup d’état by Russia in Moldova. At the time, she increased security measures amid fears of violent attacks on government buildings.
In March, Moldova thwarted Russian-linked attempts to topple Sandu’s government shortly after the U.S. issued a warning that the Kremlin might try to weaken the Moldovan government. Seven people with ties to Russia were arrested over allegations of stirring unrest during government protests. In May, the EU sanctioned pro-Russian Moldovan politician and oligarch Ilan Shor because of his plans to destabilize Moldova with a series of protests against the country’s pro-West government.
Sandu said of Russia in the Financial Times interview: “And now they are trying massive interference in our elections, using a lot of money.”
Russia refuted such allegations back in February: “Such claims are completely unfounded and unsubstantiated,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said then, as reported by the Moscow Times.
Moldova, like Ukraine, is an aspirant for EU membership. On Thursday, a grand majority of MEPs supported a non-binding resolution focused on starting membership talks with Moldova.
