Moldova’s pro-western government has resigned after 18 months in power following a series of economic and political crises that have engulfed the country in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The prime minister, Natalia Gavrilita, told a news conference on Friday that the “time has come for me to announce my resignation”, adding that no one could have expected her government “to manage so many crises caused by Russian aggression”.
Hours earlier, the government said a Russian missile had violated Moldovan airspace and summoned Russia’s ambassador to protest.
Moldova’s intelligence service said on Thursday that Russia was acting to destabilise the country, after the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Kyiv had intercepted a “plan for the destruction of Moldova” by Russian intelligence.
“Subversive activities with the aim of undermining the Republic of Moldova, of destabilisation and violating the public order were identified,” the country’s Intelligence and Security Service (SIS) said in a statement.
The SIS statement said the agency could not give any further details “because of the risk of jeopardising different ongoing operational activities”, adding it wanted to “reassure Moldova’s citizens that all the state’s institutions are working”.
The president, Maia Sandu, accepted Gavrilita’s resignation. “Thank you so much for your enormous sacrifice and efforts to lead the country in a time of so many crises,” Sandu said. “In spite of unprecedented challenges, the country was governed responsibly, with a lot of attention and dedicated work.”
Sandu’s choice of a successor – her pro-European security adviser Dorin Recean – is likely to be approved without hurdles.
The former Soviet republic of 2.5 million people has suffered a string of problems including soaring inflation, a large influx of Ukrainian refugees, and an acute energy crisis coupled with power cuts after Moscow dramatically reduced supplies.
The steep price increases – in particular for Russian gas – led to street protests last year in the small country, wedged between Ukraine and Romania, in which demonstrators called for the government and president to resign.
Gavrilita, a 41-year-old economist, was appointed in August 2021 after her pro-western PAS party won elections on a pro-EU, reformist ticket. Sandu was elected in 2020 in a landslide victory, also on a pro-European, anti-corruption platform.
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“I took over the government with an anti-corruption, pro-development and pro-European mandate at a time when corruption schemes had captured all the institutions and the oligarchs felt untouchable,” Gavrilita said.
“We were immediately faced with energy blackmail, and those who did this hoped that we would give in … I believe in the Moldovan people. I believe in Moldova. I believe that we will be able to make it through all the difficulties and challenges.”
EU leaders accepted Moldova as a membership candidate last year in a diplomatic triumph for Sandu. Russia, however, has troops in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transdniestria and opposes any move to join the 27-nation bloc.
Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report