Moldova closes its airspace a day after president warned Russia was plotting a coup

Moldova temporarily closed its airspace today, a day after the country’s president warned that Russia was planning a coup to overthrow his pro-Western government.

‘Dear passengers, at the moment, the airspace of the Republic of Moldova is closed. We are waiting for the resumption of flights,” Air Moldova said on Facebook.

The announcement comes at a time of tension between the former Soviet republic and Russia as Moscow wages war in Ukraine, which shares a border with Moldova.

On Tuesday, Russia angrily rejected the Moldovan president’s claims about an alleged plot by Moscow to overthrow his government and accused the Moldovan authorities of trying to divert public attention from the country’s internal problems.

But local reports said the Moldovan government may have closed its airspace due to the expected arrival of soccer fans from Serbia for a Europa League soccer match between FC Sheriff and Partizan Belgrade, scheduled for Thursday.

“Moldovan airspace was temporarily closed at 11:24 am (0924 GMT) on February 14 to ensure the safety of civil aviation,” the Moldovan Civil Aviation Authority said in a press release. “At 2:47 p.m. (12:47 GMT) the airspace was reopened,” he added, without giving further details.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu said Monday the alleged Russian plot called for attacks on government buildings, hostage-taking and other violent actions by groups of saboteurs to put the nation “at Russia’s disposal” and derail its hopes. to join the European Union. .

Along with internal forces such as those controlled by a fugitive oligarch named Ilan Shor, Moscow reportedly planned to use foreign nationals from Russia, Belarus, Serbia and Montenegro to implement its plans, Sandu said.

Partizan Belgrade is a football team from the Serbian capital. Yesterday it was announced that Thursday’s game would be played behind closed doors.

Radio Chisinau reported that 12 Serbian soccer fans were denied entry into Moldova on Monday, and that the arrival of more fans on Tuesday may have been the reason behind the airspace closure.

The local station said officials suspected that “amusements” from Serbia may have been among the soccer fans due to arrive.

However, this theory was later contradicted by another Moldovan newspaper, which reported that ‘a foreign drone’ was ‘flying without permission’.

In response on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed Sandu’s claims as “absolutely baseless and baseless.”

“They are built in the spirit of classical techniques commonly used by the United States, other Western countries and Ukraine,” Zakharova said.

“First, the allegations are made with reference to allegedly classified intelligence information that cannot be verified, and then they are used to justify their own illegal actions,” he argued.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu said on Monday that Russia was planning a coup that would lead to attacks on government buildings, hostage-taking and other violent actions by groups of saboteurs to put the nation “at Russia’s disposal”. and derail their hopes of uniting The United States

Sandu’s claim came a week after the president of neighboring Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, said his country had intercepted plans by Russian secret services to destabilize and destroy Moldova.

Moldovan intelligence officials later said they confirmed the allegations.

Zakharova accused Kiev of fabricating the claim about an alleged Russian plan to destabilize Moldova in order to draw it into a confrontation with Russia.

He argued that the Moldovan authorities used “the myth about a Russian threat to distract the attention of Moldovan citizens from internal problems resulting from a disastrous socio-economic course of the current administration and to intensify the fight against dissent and political opponents.”

Zakharova insisted that Russia does not pose a threat to Moldova and hopes to develop win-win cooperation.

Since Russian troops entered Ukraine last year, Moldova, a former Soviet republic of some 2.6 million people, has sought to forge closer ties with its Western partners.

Last June, it was granted EU candidate status, on the same day as Ukraine.

In December, Moldova’s national intelligence agency warned that Russia could launch a new offensive aimed at creating a land corridor through southern Ukraine to the Moscow-backed breakaway region of Transnistria in Moldova.

Transnistria broke away after a civil war in 1992, but is not recognized by most nations.

It stretches approximately 250 miles from the eastern bank of the Dniester River to the country’s border with Ukraine. Russia has around 1,500 soldiers nominally as “peacekeepers” in the breakaway region.