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It's mid-February, and a crowd of about a thousand angry protesters have gathered in Moldova's capital, Kishinal.

They're calling for the resignation of the country's president, Maya Sandu.

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, there have been several demonstrations in Moldova against its Western friendly government.

The protests have been fueled by soaring inflation, and led mainly by small opposition parties.

I think if our government doesn't know how to rule the country and set regular prices for gas, heating, electricity and food, they should resign.

But this time, something's different.

Moldova and President Maya Sandu has accused Russia of planning to overthrow her country's government by using foreign saboteurs disguised as anti-government protesters.

Could these protests in the former Soviet country be the latest script from Putin's playbook?

And does he have the power to change the political direction of Ukraine's neighbour?

You're listening to stories of our times from the times and the Sunday times. I'm Jenny Clemen.

Today, Moldova is next in Putin's sights.

I am Tom Kington. I'm the Italy correspondent of the Times.

I went to Moldova to report on political and social and geopolitical upheavals in this tiny country kicking off with a protest that I covered outside the parliament in a kitchen out of the capital of Moldova.

It was a noisy, angry protest. There was about a thousand people outside the parliament protesting about their home heating bills claiming that their bills had soared over the winter.

And they were demanding that the government pay 100% of their bills for December, January and February.

And the protest was being led by a woman called Marina Torba, who's the vice president of a party called the Shaw Party.

She was whipping up the protestors and actually going into the crowd to collect their unpaid bills.

So she had this massive stack of bills in her hand. It was a very dramatic moment.

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