Russia devotes resources to sabotage efforts, Moldova says – BNN Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Moldova’s chief negotiator in European Union membership talks said Russia injected about 100 million euros ($108 million) in a bid to thwart a crucial election Sunday through disinformation and destabilization operations and payments to voters.

Deputy Prime Minister Cristina Gherasimov, responsible for the former Soviet republic’s European integration, warned days before the presidential election and referendum on EU membership that such tactics could be exported elsewhere in case of success.

“One thing must be clear to our partners: we are a testing ground for new methods – and whatever works in Moldova will also be used in other countries,” Gherasimov said in an interview this week in Brussels.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu will run for a second term on Sunday and will continue her pro-European journey with the referendum on the EU. This country of 2.6 million people, wedged between Romania and Ukraine, is on the verge of breaking the Kremlin’s grip on its energy resources and political system that has existed in the decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Even though polls show a majority of Moldovans support EU membership, authorities have warned of unprecedented attempts by the Kremlin to overthrow democratic institutions. These include potential incitement to violence with weapons, explosives and drones, Moldovan police chief Viorel Cernauteanu said on Thursday.

The leader on Thursday outlined what he said were Kremlin-led sabotage plans involving more than 300 trained agents deployed to provoke election-related protests. These plans were coordinated by groups linked to the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, he said.

Cernauteanu also said earlier in October that payments were made to some 130,000 people, or 5% of Moldova’s population, to undermine the elections, while voting for Kremlin-backed groups in the presidential race .

“The stakes are quite high”

Gherasimov said Russia’s priority is to prevent Moldova from becoming an EU member by spreading the narrative that a turn to Brussels is tantamount to choosing war. The invasion of Ukraine should spark fear in the hope that more Moldovans will reject membership in the referendum, she said.

A pro-Kremlin government in Moldova is seen in Moscow as more powerful leverage in the conflict against Ukraine, particularly with the presence of Russian troops in the breakaway region of Transnistria, according to the deputy prime minister.

“The stakes are quite high in Moldova for Russia: they want to keep Moldova in a gray zone,” Gherasimov said.

Moldova’s goal is to join the 27-member bloc by 2030. The country is counting on Western support to combat Russian interference, including through a new strategic communications center intended to combat misinformation. Authorities in the capital Chisinau rely on the technical know-how of Western allies, Gherasimov said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this month unveiled a record 1.8 billion euros in aid to Moldova, to help boost economic recovery from the fallout from the war in Ukraine. The country’s economy contracted by 4.6% in 2022 and recorded only a slight rebound last year.

Gherasimov called the end-of-decade goal of joining the bloc ambitious. The main challenges will be addressing the economic situation – which could double over the next ten years – and tackling corruption in the justice system, the deputy prime minister said.

“We are in an internal war with our own judges and prosecutors who have benefited from a very corrupt and closed system for decades, which slows down reform,” Gherasimov said. “But we are determined to continue.”

These efforts suffered from a lack of resources. The country’s top anti-corruption official, Veronica Dragalin, told Bloomberg that the oversight efforts had prompted a wave of resignations, leaving her office well short of the number of prosecutors needed to carry out the task.

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