Moldova confirms new government

CHISINAU, Moldova: Moldova’s parliament on Thursday (Friday in Manila) voted in a new government after the surprise resignation of its prime minister, as tensions run high over allegations of Russian attempts to destabilize the country on the southern border of Ukraine.

Parliament ratified the cabinet of Prime Minister Dorin Recean, named by the pro-European President Maia Sandu to replace Natalia Gavrilita, who quit last Friday citing a lack of party support.

Moldova, like Ukraine, has asked for EU membership since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, and analysts have suggested that Gavrilita was not moving fast enough on the institutional and economic reforms needed to join the bloc.

The government reset came as the interior ministry said debris from a Russian missile had been found in a field in the north of the country, near its border with Ukraine.

Moldova had summoned the Russian ambassador last Friday over the alleged violation of its airspace, amid claims by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Kyiv had intercepted a Moscow plan “to break the democracy of Moldova and establish control over Moldova.”

Russia maintains what it calls a peacekeeping force in a breakaway region of eastern Moldova called Transnistria, which borders Ukraine.

On Monday, Sandu accused Russia of plotting to violently overthrow her government through saboteurs disguised as anti-government protesters, claims which Russia denied.

Moldova, a former Soviet republic, is also wrestling with an energy crisis prompted by supply cuts from Russia’s targeting of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which has helped fuel a series of anti-government protests in recent months.

The interior ministry said it was the fourth time it had found debris of a Russian missile on its territory since the invasion of Ukraine began a year ago, and had already denounced Russian missile overflights last October.

“Moldova is under hybrid attacks. We fought against these threats last autumn, but a new, stronger wave is just beginning,” Recean told MPs in a speech before the vote to approve his cabinet.