Several thousand people protested in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, against President Maia Sandu and the country’s pro-Western government on February 19, with many in the crowd linked to the Russia-friendly Shor Party.
The protest comes days after Sandu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made public comments about an alleged Russian plan to organize a coup in Moldova, masked by opposition protests in Chisinau.
The Shor Party is led by politician and businessman Ilan Shor, who fled Moldova in 2019 after Sandu’s election.
Many among the protesters demanded Sandu’s resignation and called on the government to pay citizens’ utility bills for the winter months.
On February 16, a new pro-Western government led by Prime Minister Dorin Recean was sworn in after receiving the backing of 62 lawmakers from the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) in the 101-seat parliament.
Deputies representing opposition socialists and communists demonstrated against the new government and chanted “Shame” and “Anticipated.” The Shor Party boycotted the session.
That vote came less than a week after Recean, 48, was nominated by Sandu to replace Natalia Gavrilita, whose government resigned following 18 months in office.
Recean was interior minister from 2012 to 2015. Before being tapped to be prime minister, he served as a defense and security adviser to Sandu.
Sandu has repeatedly accused Russia of trying to destabilize Moldova. She spoke of an alleged Russian plot that she said was outlined in documents she received from Ukrainian intelligence services. The plot allegedly aimed to topple the country’s leadership, stop it joining the EU, and use it in the war against Ukraine.
Russia has denied it is plotting to destabilize Moldova, calling the claims “completely unfounded and unsubstantiated.”
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly warned that Moldova’s separatist Transdniester region, which broke away in 1990, could be used as a staging area for Russian operations against Ukraine or Moldova, which also shares a border and a common history with NATO member Romania.
Transdniester is a sliver of territory that borders Ukraine where hundreds of Russian troops remain deployed since before the fall of communism despite Chisinau’s objections.
