Sources in the White House tell CNN the US intelligence community believe Russian agents are on the ground working to stir up unrest in Moldova with the goal of taking down the tiny former Soviet republic’s government and install new leadership loyal to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu last month said publicly she believes the Kremlin was planning “a series of actions involving saboteurs who have undergone military training and are disguised as civilians to carry out violent actions, attacks on government buildings and hostage-taking.” The country, which sits on Ukraine’s western border, has been stuck for 30 years with an unrecognized Moscow-backed breakaway region called Transnistria and part of the Russian effort to destabilize greater Moldova has been false claims that Ukraine is readying an invasion of the area.