‘Elevated risk’: Wizz Air suspends flights over Moldova due to safety fears as tensions with Russia rise

An airline has halted flights over a tiny European country due to security fears just days after a Russian plan to destroy the nation was uncovered.

Wizz Air will suspend flights to and from Moldova over security fears.

An airline will pause flights over a tiny European country due to soaring security threats just days after a Russian plan to destroy the nation was allegedly uncovered.

Tensions between Moldova – a small eastern European nation with just 2.6 million inhabitants – and Russia have been rising recently, with a Russian missile fired over its airspace earlier in February.

Over the course of Russia’s year-long invasion of Ukraine, pro-Europe Moldova, which is located between Ukraine and Romania, has been showered with debris and has shut its own airspace due to the nearby conflict several times.

It has also been impacted by blackouts as a result of Ukraine pausing electricity exports after being targeted by air strikes from Moscow.

Now, Hungarian-owned budget airline Wizz Air has announced it will no longer fly to and from the country’s capital Chisinau from March 14 due to the deteriorating security situation.

Moldova has been heavily impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Picture: Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/AFP

“Safety of the passengers and crew remain Wizz Air’s number one priority,” the airline said in a statement.

“Following the recent developments in Moldova and the elevated, but not imminent, risk in the country’s airspace, Wizz Air has made the difficult but responsible decision to suspend all flights to [capital city] Chisinau from 14 March.”

The country’s infrastructure ministry hit back at Wizz Air’s move, insisting flights “could be carried out safely”.

However, the major announcement comes just weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told an EU summit Kyiv had “intercepted the plan for the destruction of Moldova by Russian intelligence”.

“This document shows who, when and how it is going to break the democracy of Moldova and establish control over Moldova,” he said.

Wizz Air will halt flights to and from Moldova as the security risk explodes.

Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Service later confirmed the threat in a statement, revealing that “both from the information presented by our Ukrainian partner and also from our operative activities, subversive activities with the aim of undermining the Republic of Moldova, of destabilisation and violating the public order were identified”.

Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, also recently accused Moscow of plotting to use “saboteurs with military background, camouflaged in civilian clothes, to undertake violent actions, attacks on state institutions and taking hostages” in a bid to “overthrow the constitutional order and replace the legitimate power of Chisinau with an illegitimate one”, and prevent the country from joining the EU.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Russia was plotting the ‘destruction of Moldova’. Picture: Genya Savilov/AFP

While Russia has denied the claims, Sandu insists “the Kremlin’s attempts to bring violence to our country will fail”.

Meanwhile, Russia has hit back with wild accusations of its own, claiming Ukraine was planning to invade the Moscow-backed breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria, where 1500 Russian soldiers are stationed – a claim immediately dismissed by Moldova.

So far, Wizz Air is the only airline to exit Moldova, with Turkish Airlines, Air Moldova and Romania’s Tarom all still servicing the country.

It comes just after the one year anniversary of the brutal Russia-Ukraine war, which began on February 24 last year.

Addressing his nation to mark the sombre occasion, Zelensky vowed to do everything possible to defeat Russia this year.

He said Ukraine will prevail if the West keeps to its pledges on weaponry and financial contributions.

“If partners respect all their promises and deadlines, victory will inevitably await us,” he said, with Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov stating that his army was gearing up for a looming counteroffensive.