With war in next-door Ukraine, tiny Moldova fears it's in Russia's crosshairs too

CHISINAU, Moldova — At its heart, the plan was simple: Dispatch military-trained saboteurs, embed them among protesters and have them attack government buildings, perhaps even take hostages. That would light the spark for a full-on insurrection that, with the help of Kremlin-aligned opposition figures, would topple Moldova's Western-leaning president, Maia Sandu, and install a Russia-friendly ruler in her stead.

But Moldovan authorities got wind of the alleged plot and exposed it. In a grim speech in February, Sandu said the plan was launched at Moscow's behest to bring about a coup d'etat in this tiny republic caught between its Soviet past and the future it seeks with the West.

As the world maintains its focus on Russia's year-old invasion of Ukraine, a similarly existential, if less bloody, fight is being waged here as Moldova struggles to keep from being turned once more into a puppet of Moscow. Like Ukraine, Moldova is trying to ward off a bigger, better-equipped foe — but without benefit of the same massive level of Western aid that has been poured into its war-torn eastern neighbor.

So far, Moldovan officials say, the Russian-backed forces in