MOSCOW, March 2 /TASS/. The speculations of Moldovan Defense Minister Anatoly Salaru that Moldova and Russia are in a state of a "hybrid war" with each other are extremely dangerous, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
"He went as far as saying that Russia and Moldova are in a state of some ‘hybrid war’ aimed at destabilizing the situation in Moldova. It is clear that these speculations are extremely dangerous," the diplomat said.
"They [the statements of Moldova’s defense minister — TASS] are standing in contrast with the desire of Moldova’s new cabinet of ministers to work towards improving the Russian-Moldovan relations. A question, which comes to mind after such statements, is: what Chisinau’s official stance is and who determines it," Zakharova added.
Moldova’s political crisis has been smoldering since September 2015, when the first protest rallies swept Chisinau. Angry demonstrators took to the streets in the wake of the "theft of the century" row - last spring’s scandal over a group of civil servants who had defrauded the country’s three largest banks of $1 billion of Western aid, which eventually ended up on offshore accounts. The government stepped down last October.
The protesters’ ranks were greatly varied: from the pro-European movement Dignity and Truth to left-of-centre opposition: Igor Dodon’s Socialists and Renato Usatii’s Our Party. All are demanding early elections.