Moldova’s president has claimed Russia’s Wagner paramilitaries were behind a thwarted coup attempt that aimed to depose her as head of state as part of a campaign to destabilise the country.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Maia Sandu said Wagner’s late leader Yevgeny Prigozhin had planned the coup earlier this year and warned that Moscow is using various methods, including cash mules and bank cards issued in Dubai, to smuggle money into Moldova to bribe voters ahead of a string of elections.

“The information that we have is that it was a plan prepared by [Prigozhin’s] team,” Sandu said, adding that they wanted to encourage anti-government protests to turn “violent”. “The situation is really dramatic and we have to protect ourselves.”