Russia pays people to vote against joining the EU, Moldova warns – Dnyuz

A pro-Russian oligarch is at the center of a web of money and influence aimed at helping the Kremlin pay ordinary Moldovans to vote against closer ties with the West in national elections later this month, authorities in the Eastern European country said .

“Moldova is facing a phenomenon of voter bribery, combined with hybrid warfare and disinformation, the likes of which our country has never seen before,” Moldova’s police chief, Viorel Cernăuțeanu, told POLITICO on Thursday.

Moldovan investigators report that more than $15 million in Russian funds have been funneled into the bank accounts of more than 130,000 Moldovan citizens in the past month alone. They will hold a press conference on Thursday to raise the alarm about the plot.

“This mafia-like network, orchestrated from Moscow, aims to influence voters in the run-up to the presidential elections and the EU referendum,” Cernăuțeanu said.

Investigators say Ilan Shor, the founder of a now-banned pro-Russian political party, helped launder the funds intended to bribe voters through a network of banks. Officials say coordinators in Russia then instructed officials and local activists to act on their behalf, handing out cash via the messaging platform Telegram.

Shor’s allies, and the Kremlin, are campaigning to urge the public to vote against joining the EU in a referendum on October 20, and against pro-Western President Maia Sandu in simultaneous elections.

The Shor party, founded by the Moldovan-Israeli tycoon, was declared unconstitutional and banned last year, but officials say it has close ties to other pro-Russian opposition groups.

The revelations come just days after Moldova’s national security adviser, Stanislav Secrieru, told POLITICO that Russia has launched an “unprecedented onslaught” of propaganda and intimidation ahead of the October 20 elections. “Russia will spend about 100 million euros this year on interfering in Moldovan democratic processes,” he predicted.

Moldova was granted candidate status by the EU in June 2022 and accession talks with the bloc began this summer, even as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine rages just across the border. However, Moscow has sought to use its control over the country’s energy supply and its penetration of state institutions to exert control over its former Soviet republic.

The EU has sent a civilian mission to the candidate country to help build resilience against hybrid threats from Russia. Last summer, Ukrainian intelligence warned that it had intercepted a plot to overthrow Sandu’s government by force, financed by Moscow. Shor was named as the kingpin of the alleged coup and has since been sanctioned by Brussels.

A senior Moldovan official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the sensitive security issue, said closer cooperation with Brussels was key to ensuring Moscow’s plan does not work: “We are learning important lessons as we build our democracy defense in this election cycle – lessons the EU can also benefit from, as they are likely to face similar, but more sophisticated tactics in the future.”

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