Moldova holds key elections as Russia’s shadows are outlined

Filing the crowd through a central chisinau waved EU flags on Friday night it was clear: they believe that Russia was trying to steal its election and bring the politicians of the pro-Crem power in Moldova.

“Their weapon is money, your weapon is your vote!”, It was the strongest chanting, as several hundred supporters of the ruling party, PAS and its pro-European policies have joined the last rally before the newsletter on Sunday.

This week, Moldov’s police and the prosecutor’s office revealed evidence of election intervention on an unprecedented scale: buying votes and misinformation that they connect directly with Russia. They have also revealed a plot to ignite violent excitement, holding dozens of men traveling to Serbia for training, including using firearms.

Opposition parties reject the conversations about Russian intervention as a “political show”, claiming that the government sets reason to cancel the vote if PAS loses its majority in parliament.

But Moldova took a decisive turn to EU membership and away from Moscow after the full -scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine. Evidence now indicates that Russia has invested seriously in restoring its influence.

He tries to control back control.

Filed between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova is independent as the USSR broke up more than three decades ago. Last summer, he began conversations about joining the EU in tandem with Ukraine.

Prime Minister Dorin Recruit sees these elections as a “last battle” for his country.

“There is constant pressure from Russia,” he told me, as the Pro-Pas crowd fell apart after his brief march through Chisinau.

“They spend the equivalent of more than 1% of our GDP to overthrow our government – for propaganda and fake messages.”

Some of this network for fake news-anti-PAS content for money-baby revealed in A recent BBC investigationS

It is associated with Ilan Sor, the fugitive oligarch Moldov, who is now in Moscow.

In response to the BBC investigation, the Russian Embassy in the UK denied participation in counterfeit news and electoral interventions and claimed that the EU was involved in the election of Moldova.

All this happens when the bombing of Russia from Ukraine has also escalated with Moscow, accused of increasingly virtuous activity elsewhere in Europe, such as sending drones to Poland.

So Pas tries to mobilize voters by moving home for the danger.

His bright yellow election leaflets are full of promises that the party guarantees EU membership “in the next four years”, along with a wealth of European investment and maximum respect in the world.

But the back of the paper is dark and disturbing. There is an image of Ukrainian homes destroyed by war and warning not to “convey our country to Russia.”

Then come the faces of Moldova’s opposition leaders and the slogan: “Say no to Putin’s candidates.”

“This is the risk right now here in Moldova,” the prime minister says, justifying the use of such scare tactics.

Beyond the wrapped blocks of the Soviet era of the suburbs of Chisinau, short driving leads to a field in a field lined with grape vines. It’s like a mini -tuscan with many more holes.

In Krika, when the sun begins to slide, women talk on benches in the main square while their children are overcome over the climbing frame.

Moldova is not rich, even in wine production places like this and a huge number has left the country to seek a better life and income abroad. This created such a large diaspora, his voice became decisive.

After a full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine in 2022, the leap of energy prices bored even more economy-to almost zero growth.

“Politicians have fantastic paper to print their election posters and leaflets, but there is nothing decent about our children’s textbooks,” one of the mothers is shaking, showing a photo of their phone to school books, torn and torn apart.

Another says her salary on a factory production line has stuck about 100 pounds a month, but the cost of living has increased. “I don’t know who to vote for, they all make promises,” she shrinks. “Then they do nothing.”

Beyond PAS, the Sunday choice includes the patriotic block, composed mainly of socialist and communist parties. A key member Irina Vlach was forbidden to run on Friday over the illegal funding allegations.

Another block, Alternative, is presented as a pro-EU, but its candidates include the mayor of Chisinau, who is forbidden to travel to Europe in the Schengen area for unspecified security reasons. He appealed the decision.

In general, there are more than 20 participants, although there is a minimum threshold to enter parliament.

Tamara, who is 60’s, tells me that her own vote will not be resolved by a lack of school books or even salaries.

“We chose the road to the EU and I want to continue this road, like everyone else,” she says.

“I wouldn’t want to go back. It’s scary! I’ve been there already.”

Igor Dodon is not afraid of restoring relations with Russia. This is something he is actively looking for.

Even when Moscow War of Moldova’s neighbor, Ukraine, the former president has three photos of Russian leader Vladimir Putin in the gallery of photos of his office wall.

He points to other photos, including old shots with US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, as proof of his “balanced” policy.

But Putin and his allies dominate the display.

Dodon is one of the main candidates for opposition on Sunday, about the Socialist Party, and shrinks conversations about Russian intervention. In July, he travels to Moscow for meetings and says that if he wins these elections, he will oppose all sanctions against Russia “even if Brussels dictates it.”

He will also return to the purchase of gas from Russia to reduce costs. Why not, he wants to know if EU members Slovakia and Hungary can do it?

Dodon calls his approach Pro-Moldovan, not pro-Russian, led by profit margins, not morality. When pressed, he says the war in Ukraine was the fault of both sides.

“We have to have a good relationship with everyone. This means we should not be friends with someone against another,” he said.

But he is not at all friendly with President Maya Sandu, who founded a pass, or with her allies.

“If the Easter says they have won on Sunday, we will show that this is a solution. They can only get a majority through falsification,” Dodon said, promising a wave of street protests, if that happened.

“We will announce a victory and protect it,” he says. “We will not allow them to cancel the vote.”

The only documented efforts to distort Moldova’s elections have been from Russia so far.

“This is one of the most advanced interference campaigns we have seen,” said police chief Viorel Chernyuanu categorically.

It is also more bigge.

At last year’s presidential election, he said people were paid up to $ 40 to vote for pro -Russian forces, which then approached the victory.

“We estimate that Russia is investing over $ 100 million like last year,” the police chief tells me. “It’s more than three times now.”

The process is also more complicated, using cryptocurrency instead of bags full of money.

“For the Russian side, Moldova is regarded as a territory where they have to exercise influence … within the borders of the old Empire,” explains John Loff, the head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies (Nest), a cerebral trust based in London.

“With very traditional, imperial thinking … they see this as their right to Chief Moldova around.

“If they can lead to a power supply of a government that is friendly to them, then it would be demoralizing for Europeans,” he adds.

There is also the chance of a hard leg inside Europe for more hybrid activity And the potential offered by the detached region of Transnister, which borders with Ukraine.

Propped up by Moscow, he is still home to a Soviet -era ammunition store and a contingent of Russian troops.

The government, dressed in Russia, “can make things difficult for the Ukrainians” because of the Transnistria, Loffs said.

Moscow denied allegations and accused the Moldovan authorities of spreading anti -Russian rhetoric.

“Authorities are so afraid of the election that they make it difficult for candidates, participating in the vote and monitoring of the vote,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said in a statement this week.

For the police chief Chernawano, this is the plot of violent excitement, which is the most serious.

More than 100 people – mainly “athletic” men, he tells me – have been detained for attending training in Serbia, including for the breakthrough of police lines and seizure of weapons.

Two were related to Dodon’s political structure. The former president says the party is still checking its records.

On Friday, Serbian police announced the arrest of two men suspected of organizing training for up to 170 others. Moldova believes that the military intelligence of the GRU of Russia was involved.

“I don’t think anyone in Europe has experienced something like that,” says G -n Cernăuțeanu.

“Before the vote we work 24/7 to minimize the risks. But we understand very well that Russia will try absolutely all methods to achieve what it wants.”