Moldovan President Maia Sandu today announced the imminent appointment of a new pro-European prime minister to replace Natalia Gavrilita, who stepped down earlier, in an effort to keep her country on the European path despite pressure and threats from Russia.

The new prime minister will be Doreen Retzan, the country’s current national security adviser. His appointment is expected to be ratified by the Moldovan parliament next week. President Sandu’s party maintains a comfortable majority in parliament with 63 out of 101 seats. Thus, the appointment of Dorin Retzan should be taken for granted.

Moldova received status of a candidate country for accession to the European Union last June, along with Ukraine, whose government is facing intense pressure from Moscow to undermine its credibility.

Moldova, a country of 2.5 million people bordering Ukraine, used to get natural gas only from Russia before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last Thursday from Brussels, where he was scheduled to attend an EU summit, denounced Russia’s plans to “destroy” Moldova. In a few hours it will become known that at least one Russian missile passed through the airspace of Moldova, and the country’s authorities even called the Russian ambassador asking for an explanation.

According to Politico