Moldova's incoming president stages protests in tussle over control of intelligence service

Sandu, a former World Bank economist who favours closer ties with the European Union, defeated the pro-Moscow incumbent Igor Dodon in last month’s presidential election, but parliament is still dominated by Socialist party lawmakers aligned with Dodon.

The eastern European country of 3.5 million, where the West and Russia vie for influence, has been rocked in recent years by instability and corruption scandals, including the disappearance of $1 billion from the banking system.

Sandu has described the move to strip her office of control of the Information and Security Service as “an attempt to usurp power” and hobble her presidency.

“We got the vote of the people in the elections to punish the thieves, to return the stolen money to people,” she said at the protest rally.

“But the thieves got scared, they want to keep the old corruption schemes, they want to throw the voice of the people into a landfill.”

The Socialists argued that, since Moldova was a parliamentary republic, control over the intelligence service should be handed to parliament.

The Socialists have also drafted legislation that would give special status to the Russian language, which is widely spoken alongside Romanian in the country that borders Ukraine and EU member state Romania.

Sandu’s supporters shouted “down with the mafia” and “down with Dodon”. Many wore masks due to the coronavirus pandemic. Inside parliament, proceedings were suspended after lawmakers from Sandu’s party, supported by others, blocked the central rostrum.

Sandu struck a conciliatory tone following her election victory and addressed supporters in Russian at the rally. But her call for Russian peacekeepers to withdraw from the breakaway region of Transdniestria prompted the Kremlin to warn it could lead to “serious destabilisation” this week.