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Russia is working behind the scenes to run a major influence operation meant to destabilize the current government of Moldova, with the apparent aim of installing a Russia-friendly government, U.S. and Moldovan officials told The Daily Beast.
Signs of the Kremlin’s alleged operation—which is aimed at subverting the current Moldovan government and fomenting artificial unrest through protests in Moldova—are evident in both Moldova and Transnistria, the Russia-backed breakaway region in Moldova, a U.S. diplomat who recently visited both of those regions told The Daily Beast.
The effort is focused on undermining the pro-Western government of Moldovan President Maia Sandu and sweeping the country, which declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, back into Russia’s fold, U.S. Ambassador Michael Carpenter told The Daily Beast.