Moldova's intelligence service has confirmed statements made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy alleging that Russia has acted to destabilize the country.
Zelenskiy, addressing an EU summit earlier on February 9, said that Kyiv had "intercepted the plan for the destruction of Moldova by Russian intelligence."
Zelenskiy said the document shows who, when, and how Russia planned "to break the democracy of Moldova and establish control over Moldova," and he said he warned Chisinau about it.
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 Moldovan Intelligence and Security Service confirmed that it had received information about the plan.
“The Intelligence and Security Service confirms that, both from the information presented by our Ukrainian partner and also from our operative activities, subversive activities with the aim of undermining the Republic of Moldova, of destabilization and violating the public order, were identified," the service said in a statement.
The statement said the service could not give any more details "because there's the risk of jeopardizing different ongoing operational activities."
Deputy Prime Minister Nicu Popescu said that during the past year Chisinau had witnessed attempts to destabilize the government and all of them failed.
President Maia Sandu's office said in a statement that Moldova’s institutions "are working to ensure the country's security and are using all the informational help of partners to anticipate and prevent any attempts to undermine our state."
The Moldovan presidency also said that it is in constant contact with European leaders and with other external partners, including Zelenskiy, "with whom he has a continuous exchange of opinions and information regarding the situation in the region."
The country, wedged between Ukraine and Romania, applied to join the European Union just after Russia invaded Ukraine nearly one year ago.
Russia maintains troops in Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniester.