Maia Sandu

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov again threatened Chisinau, saying that "the West has already set its sights on the Republic of Moldova to play the role of the next Ukraine" and that Maia Sandu "is ready, practically, for almost anything, including an alliance with Romania", reported the "Romania Journal", quoting the Moldovan television TVR.

PM Maia Sandu and her cabinet are facing a pincer movement from a party led by a fugitive oligarch and the pro-Russian Socialists - both of which want her pro-Western government gone.

Moldova's pro-Western President Maia Sandu said on Wednesday that she does not understand why Russia imposed a new embargo on Moldovan fruits on August 15, as her country's goods meet EU quality standards that are higher than Russian standards.

Moldovan president Maia Sandu on Sunday promulgated the Informational Security Law, which will ban the broadcast in Moldova of Russian TV news and political analysis.

The law, designed to counter Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine, says that the ban will still apply after the expiration of the state of emergency established in Moldova after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu has told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Moldova pays large sums of money for Russian gas - and the country's intentions to join the EU have been known for years.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov held a video conference with the President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu. Prime Minister Petkov confirmed Bulgaria's support for the country's European perspective, which he will express at the forthcoming European Council. He welcomed President Sandu's strong commitment to leading Moldova on its European path and on the path of reform.

The director of the Moldovan Intelligence and Security Service, SIS, Alexandru Esaulenco, resigned on Monday amid the detaining scandal regarding the former pro-Russian president, Igor Dodon, for corruption and high treason to Russia.

Former Moldovan president Igor Dodon on Wednesday said his detention on Tuesday on treason charges was "a political case", claiming that the governing pro-European Action and Solidarity Party, PAS, was pusuing a vendetta.

Pro-Russian former Moldovan President Igor Dodon was detained by prosecutors on Tuesday on four charges including corruption and treason.

Investigators searched Dodon's Chisinau home, his mother's house and a villa being built by the Dodon family by the Dniester River, seizing tens of thousands of euros in cash and half a million lei [25,000 euros], anti-graft prosecutors said.

Moldova does not see an immediate threat of riots and violence to be transferred from the war in Ukraine, despite "provocations" by pro-Russian separatists in recent days. But authorities are preparing contingency plans for "pessimistic" scenarios, President Maia Sandu said on Wednesday.