The authorities of Moldova are making a “grave mistake” by pursuing confrontation with Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Earlier this week, the Moldovan government under pro-EU President Maia Sandu adopted a new security strategy identifying Moscow as the main threat and accusing it of waging a “high-intensity hybrid war” against the country. The document claims the former Soviet republic has been “profoundly affected” by the Ukraine conflict, which it described as Russian “aggression.”

Moscow has repeatedly denied meddling in Moldova’s internal affairs, saying the Ukraine conflict was provoked by the West and that Russia is only defending itself.

Peskov told TASS that Chisinau’s strategy is a “continuation of a rather confrontational line towards our country.”

“From our point of view, the current leaders of Moldova are making a grave mistake. They believe that the line of building up relations with Europe implies full antagonization of Russia,” he said.

“One country has already made such a mistake. It did not bring any good to this one country,” the spokesman added, referencing Ukraine, where a Western-backed coup in 2014 overthrew its elected government and led to the deterioration of Moscow-Kiev relations and armed conflict.

In the September election, Sandu’s pro-EU Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) retained its majority, narrowly beating the Patriotic Electoral Bloc (BEP) and other opposition groups amid widespread allegations of fraud and the restriction of voters’ access to polling stations both at home and abroad.

Sandu’s victory was hailed as another step toward EU accession. Moldova, a nation of about 2.4 million people sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, became an EU candidate in 2022, months after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

BEP leader Igor Dodon claimed Sandu’s party won “exclusively by manipulation with support from the EU and NATO,” turning Moldova into “another anti-Russia project following the example of neighboring Ukraine.”

“The Moldovan authorities are desperately clinging to power… stopping at nothing [to do so] during the election,” Peskov said. “After staying in power, they maintain their unfriendly line [towards Russia]. One can only express regret about it,” he added.