Pro-European Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita and her government have resigned. The new head of government will be the former security adviser in the presidential office, Dorin Recean.
Dorin Recean, Prime Minister-elect of the Republic of Moldova
“The Republic of Moldova is now entering a time when security concerns have priority” – with this sentence Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita announced her resignation and that of the entire government to the press in Chisinau on Friday afternoon (February 10, 2023). President Maia Sandu accepted the resignation. She thanked Gavrilita for the cabinet's “dedicated work” so far: “Despite unprecedented challenges, the country was governed responsibly and with great care. We have stability, peace and development where others wanted war and bankruptcy,” so Sandu.
Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita announces her resignation
Observers had already expected a change at the top of the Moldovan government in October last year. The reason at the time was the lack of willingness to reform on the part of some ministers. Now the growing threat from Russia seems to have been added.
Another missile over the Moldau
According to the president's wishes, the new head of government is to be her previous security adviser, Dorin Recean. His confirmation in office should be a mere formality – the ruling Action and Solidarity party (PAS) has a comfortable majority in parliament (63 out of 101 seats). The 48-year-old Recean was previously Secretary General of Moldova's Supreme Security Council.
The government replacement comes at a critical time. On Friday morning (02/10/2023) another Russian missile entered the airspace of the Republic of Moldova. According to the Defense Ministry in Chisinau, the missile flew over the separatist region of Transnistria and later over north-eastern Moldova in the direction of Ukraine. Similar incidents had occurred in recent months. The Russian Ambassador in Chisinau, Oleg Vasnetsov, was again summoned to the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs after this latest incident.
Shield for Moldova
In view of the growing threat, Chisinau has been demanding modern missile defense systems from its western partners for some time. “The risk of an illegal overflight of our airspace by rockets launched by the Russians remains. This means we must always be on guard,” Moldovan Interior Minister Ana Revenco said in a television interview the night before the incident /p> 
Moldovan President Maia Sandu (right) and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Chisinau (November 10, 2022)
A press release from the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that the rocket attacks on Ukraine had a direct and negative impact on the citizens of the Republic of Moldova. “We call on the Russian Federation to stop the military aggression against the neighboring country, which is causing numerous deaths and material destruction.”
What was Russia's plan for autumn 2022?
The leadership in Chisinau revealed details of a Russian plan to destabilize Moldova and halt the country's pro-European course with a coup d'état. The plan was mentioned by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday (9 February 2023) during his visit to Brussels. The information was confirmed by the Presidential Office in Chisinau and the Intelligence and Security Service of Moldova. Moscow firmly rejected the account of the Ukrainian president. Nothing is known about a plan to destabilize the Republic of Moldova, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov at a press conference in the Russian capital.
Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu and Interior Minister Ana Revenco provided details about the failed Russian plan. “Over the past year there have been attempts to destabilize the Moldovan government and the course of European integration, including through paid protests. All these attempts have failed. Our citizens want to live in democracy, peace and prosperity in a future EU member state,” said Popescu.
Pro-Russian protests in Chisinau (10/11/2022)
The interior minister explained that the so-called protests in autumn 2022 were part of this Russian plan. The plan also included bomb alerts, cyber attacks, massive propaganda and a flood of fake news. “All these elements of hybrid warfare were used by Russia in the Republic of Moldova in autumn 2022 – with the aim of radicalizing society in order to subsequently create dramatic destabilization,” says Revenco. Should the Republic of Moldova come under military attack from Russia, the entire staff of the Interior Ministry would come under the command of the army. “There are already emergency plans, and every institution knows what to do,” said the Moldovan interior minister.
There had been a crisis between President Maia Sandu and Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita for several months. Although both are explicitly pro-European, there have been disagreements over the pace and implementation of certain reforms, particularly in the areas of the economy and anti-corruption. At the same time, the appointment of the national security adviser as head of government could be a sign that the Moldovan government expects a significant escalation of the Russian threats.