Moldova urges EU sanctions on oligarchs aiding Russia

(ANSA-AFP) - BRUSSELS, FEB 20 - Moldova urged the EU on Monday to impose sanctions on oligarchs it accuses of helping Russia to destabilise the country, after allegations Moscow was plotting to overthrow the pro-Western government. The former Soviet republic, wedged between Ukraine and Romania, is facing multiple crises aggravated by the Kremlin's year-old war against Kyiv. Last week Moldova accused Russia -- which has forces in the country's breakaway Transnistria region -- of conspiring to carry out a coup that would see "saboteurs" attack state institutions. "It is not the first time Moldova faces such situations in the last year," Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu said on Monday at a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

"There have been several instances of such concerns, it is just this time they are more public." He added that "the risks are there, but Moldova has a good record in fending them off." Popescu called on the 27-nation bloc to place "corrupt oligarchs and politicians who, with Russia, are trying to destabilise Moldova" on an asset freeze and visa ban blacklist. (ANSA-AFP).

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