CHISINAU, February 13. /TASS/. Moldova’s opposition Bloc of Communists and Socialists has slammed President Maia Sandu’s statements about the threat of destabilization in the country as irresponsible.

"The Bloc of Communists and Socialists condemns President Maia Sandu’s claim during a briefing on February 13, 2023, where she pronounced that Russia is allegedly plotting a state coup and destabilization in Moldova involving ‘saboteurs with military training,’" it said in a statement posted on Monday on the website of the Party of Socialists.

The authors of the statement demanded special services make public evidence of such plans.

"Otherwise such statements will be considered a provocation geared to drag Moldova into the armed conflict, whip up tension in society, intimidate the opposition and tighten political prosecution of all those having different views," the document says.

Earlier in the day, Sandu said that Moldova’s special services had found evidence confirming Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s warning that Russia plans to destabilize the situation in Moldova. According to Sandu, last year’s opposition protests in the country and the current energy crisis stem from such plans.

The opposition bloc accused the authorities of trying to drag the constitutionally neutral Moldova into the armed conflict in Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier that the West is eyeing Moldova as "another Ukraine." The minister noted that Sandu is "eager to join NATO" and is ready for unification with Romania. He stressed that Moldova is a country the West "is seeking to turn into another anti-Russia."