Moldovan police he said of having thwarted the plan of a group of people who, according to the reconstructions of the police, had been paid to create a riot during a demonstration against the pro-Western government organized on Sunday in the capital Chisinau. Moldovan police chief Viorel Cernauteanu said a Moldovan agent had infiltrated a group of 50-100 people, some of them Russian, who had been promised a reward of 10 thousand dollars to create unrest during the protests. The police said they had arrested a few dozen demonstrators, including seven suspected of wanting to create riots.
Moldova is a small country of about 2.5 million inhabitants which borders Romania and Ukraine and was part of the Soviet Union until 1991, i.e. until its dissolution. Today’s demonstration comes amid growing concerns for the country’s security, where it is feared that Russia is preparing a plan to subvert the democratic order.
Like other demonstrations that have taken place in Moldova recently, Sunday’s protest in Chisinau was organized by a group calling itself the Movement for the People and is backed by the populist and pro-Russian party Shor. In recent weeks, the Moldovan government has publicly reported that it has discovered that Russia is trying to stage a coup or impose a pro-Russian government in the country, much as it tried to do with Ukraine a year ago, in the early days of the invasion: Moldovan President Maia Sandu spoke of the existence of a Russian plan to subvert the current government from within, with undercover foreign agents.
– Read also: Why Moldova fears an invasion by Russia