Reuters. Moldovan President Maia Sandu accused Russia on Monday (September 22) of spending hundreds of millions of euros on efforts to sway the country's upcoming parliamentary election.
"The Kremlin is pouring hundreds of millions of euros to buy hundreds of thousands of votes on both banks of the Nistru river and abroad," she said in a video address posted online.
Moldovan authorities carried out scores of raids on Monday over alleged Russian-backed efforts to destabilize the country, police said, ahead of a parliamentary election which officials believe the Kremlin is trying to influence through meddling.
The national police said investigators and security forces had conducted 250 searches against more than 100 people, but did not specify any of the targets' political affiliations.
The co-leader of Moldova's pro-Russian Patriotic Bloc, which is expected to pose a stiff challenge to the ruling pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), said some members had been targeted in the searches.
“Maia Sandu and her Soros government are trying to scare the citizens. Hundreds of daily searches, attacks on our colleagues from the districts, once again show Maia Sandu and PAS' fear of the election results,” Igor Dodon, a former president, said in a video posted on Facebook.
The high-stakes September 28 vote could have sweeping consequences for Moldova's bid to join the European Union, a process it says Moscow is attempting to derail through tactics like disinformation, organizing mass riots, and vote-buying.
Russia has denied interfering in Moldova's domestic affairs.
