EGN NEWS DESK
Russia plans to affect Moldova’s parliamentary election in 2025, the director of Moldova’s Security and Intelligence Service stated on Thursday.
Alexandru Musteața gave the warning to members of parliament as he introduced SIS’s report on Russian interference within the presidential election and the referendum on accession to the European Union organized by Chișinău in October.
According to Musteața, the Kremlin will use the identical techniques within the upcoming vote.
“This technique relies on political and electoral corruption, disinformation and manipulation, in addition to road protests and unrest,” Musteața stated, including that Moldovan safety providers are growing oversight of organizations within the nation that may have a connection to Russia.
He famous that vote-buying was one of many principal strategies Moscow used to get voters to forged their ballots towards becoming a member of the EU in October’s referendum and towards pro-Western President Maia Sandu. The pro-EU sides in the end received in each instances.
According to investigators, a Moldovan fugitive oligarch, Ilan Shor, helped launder the funds meant for use to bribe voters by way of a community of banks. Shor was the founding father of a now-banned pro-Russian political party.
SIS’s report describes a number of strategies used within the interference operation and notes Shor as the primary actor of the legal community Russia used to implement the plan.
