Several European foreign ministers, including Romania, demanded on Monday that the EU impose sanctions on oligarchs involved in “attempts to destabilize” the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, amid growing fears of Russian interference, POLITICO reported, citing the News. ro.

“These two countries are facing attempts at destabilization that require the utmost vigilance on our part, and that is why we must begin to consider targeting those responsible for these attempts,” French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said before the meeting. ministers of foreign affairs of the EU.

Also, politico.eu notes, his colleagues from Romania and Estonia appealed to the bloc with a request to apply sanctions to pro-Russian oligarchs from the Republic of Moldova.

Estonian Urmas Reinsalu said that the EU “has the responsibility to appoint them and create a new mechanism of sanctions against Russian mediators, against those Moldovan oligarchs who are preparing a coup.”

Russia’s large-scale incursion into Ukraine has raised fears of Moscow’s meddling in former Soviet republics — particularly Moldova, whose pro-European president has publicly exposed Kremlin plans to topple the government, POLITICO notes.

Moldova, along with Ukraine, received EU candidate status last June, while Georgia will first have to implement several reforms, including reducing the political and economic influence of oligarchs.

Earlier this month, Moldovan Interior Minister Ana Revenko said that “Moscow, interest groups and fugitive oligarchs” were joining forces to “change the democratic course in Chisinau”, referring to pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor, who is accused of financing protests against the pro-European government of the Republic of Moldova.

Meanwhile, thousands of people demonstrated in Tbilisi two weeks ago to protest against a controversial “foreign agents” bill that Georgia’s president says was dictated by Moscow. Three days later, the ruling Georgian Dream party abandoned the bill, but a growing number of Georgians fear their government is moving closer to Moscow under the leadership of the party that has been in power since 2012. The party’s founder, former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, has close ties to Russia, where he made his fortune in the 1990s, POLITICO reports.