Moldova may become 'launchpad' for attack on Odesa if pro-Russian parties win — Sandu

Her words were quoted by Newsmaker.

In an address to Moldovan citizens and the diaspora, Sandu said that Chisinau's sovereignty and European future are under threat.

"The Kremlin is spending hundreds of millions of euros to buy hundreds of thousands of votes on both banks of the Dniester and abroad. (...) If Russia gains control over Moldova, the consequences will be immediate, and they threaten both our country and the entire region. All Moldovans will suffer, regardless of who they voted for," she said.

According to her, if pro-Russian parties win, "Europe will stop at the border with Moldova."

"Freedom of movement could end, and our land could become a staging ground for an incursion into the Odesa region. The Transnistrian region will be destabilized," the Moldovan leader stated.

Sandu also warned that the Kremlin has accomplices in Moldova – people "who in the past have proven many times that they are ready to even sell their own country for money."

"We have already lived through times when those who are buying votes today were at the helm of the country. Let's remember how much harm they did to Moldova, and how hard it was for us to remove them from power. (...) The Kremlin believes that all of us can be bought. That we are too small to resist. That we are not a country, but a territory," the president added.

• On September 22, 74 people were detained in Moldova, suspected of undergoing training in Serbia to organize mass riots during the parliamentary elections scheduled for September 28.