Budget airline Wizz has announced it is suspending flights to Moldova from mid-march due to rising tensions with Russia. The airline has become the first to raise safety concerns stating it will not fly to Moldova due to "risk in the country's airspace".
The country shares a border with Ukraine on the east, north and south. A statement released by Wizz Air said: "Due to recent developments and the high, though not imminent, risk in the country's airspace, Wizz Air has taken the difficult but responsible decision to suspend all its flights to Chisinau as of March 14".
Wizz Air has said it will offer extra flights to and from the Romanian city of Iasi, reports the Mirror, close to the Moldovan border. This means that that flights to Chisinau would go to Iasi from other Wizz Air destinations like London or Barcelona while more would also be made available.
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The Moldovan government responded in a statement which was published on messenger app Telegram that said it regretted the airline's "sudden" decision. It read: "After analysing the risks, government agencies have determined that flights in the national airspace can be carried out safely by following a number of procedures, and they regret Wizz Air's sudden decision."
Wizz Air's decision comes a fortnight after Moldovan president Maia Sandu publicly accused Russia of plotting to overthrow its government using violent actions disguised as anti-government protests. The leader said she believed the plans involved citizens of Russia, Belarus, Serbia and Montenegro trying to spark protests in an attempt to "change the legitimate government to an illegal government controlled by the Russian Federation.
She added: "Through violent actions, masked under protests of the so-called opposition, the change of power in Chisinau would be forced. In carrying out the plan, the authors rely on several internal forces, but especially on criminal groups such as the Shor formation and all of its derivatives."
Transnistria is an internationally unrecognised breakaway state of Moldova that has decided to adopt a policy of supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine shortly after the war broke out last year. It is currently allowing Russian troops to be stationed in its borders.
The statement from Moldova's president came just weeks before Russia told western countries that it would view any actions that threatened Russian peacekeepers in Transnistria as a direct attack on Russia.
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