Moldovan police said on Sunday they thwarted an attempt by Russian-backed agents trying to cause mass unrest at protests organized by the political opposition.
In recent weeks, the political party of fugitive pro-Russian oligarch Ilhan Shor has attempted to mobilize supporters against the former Soviet republic’s pro-European government.
Moldova: DW reports of pro-Russian protests in Chisinau
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what the police said
Moldovan police said they arrested members of a network “orchestrated by Moscow” to destabilize the country ahead of an anti-government protest on Sunday.
Police Chief Viorel Cernauteanu told the media that 25 men had been interrogated and seven of them had been arrested.
The group was led by a Moldovan-Russian, he said, adding that it had been infiltrated and prosecutors recorded 10 hours of video and audio.
The group included “diversionists,” some Russian nationals who police said had been promised $10,000 to organize “mass riots.”
“People came from Russia with a very specific training role,” Cernauteanu said.
Moldovan authorities said they acted after “receiving information about the organization of Russian special services about destabilizing actions on our territory through demonstrations.”
background of the protest
In recent weeks there have been several protests by the Movement for the People, which is demanding that the government pay for winter fuel bills in full and “not drag the country into war”.
The group, which is backed by the pro-Russian Shor Party, has also repeatedly called for the resignation of pro-European President Maia Sandu.
The leader of the Shor party, which holds six seats in Moldova’s 101-seat legislature, is currently in exile in Israel. Shor, a Moldovan oligarch involved in a $1 billion bank heist, was recently named on a US State Department sanctions list as working for Russian interests.
Border police in the country of around 2.6 million people said on Sunday that 182 foreign nationals had been refused entry to Moldova in the past week. Among them was a “possible representative” of Russia’s private military Wagner Group, which is currently involved in many battles in neighboring Ukraine.
Moldova’s national anti-corruption agency announced a day earlier that it had seized more than 220,000 euros in a case of alleged illegal funding of the Shor party by an organized criminal group.
Tensions in Moldova are rising amid war in Ukraine
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Officials said car searches by party “couriers” found cash in various currencies in envelopes and bags. The agency said the money was reserved to “pay for transportation and to pay people who come to protests organized by the party.”
Separately, police said Sunday they had arrested 54 protesters who displayed “questionable behavior” or were carrying prohibited items, including a knife.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last month that Kiev had intercepted intelligence that indicated Moscow was planning “to break Moldova’s democracy and seize control of Moldova.”
Moscow is trying to maintain influence
Wedged between Ukraine and Romania, Moldova is militarily neutral but has had official candidate status for European Union membership since last year.
The Kremlin has tried to keep post-Soviet states like Ukraine and Moldova within its sphere of influence, even though both countries have turned west.
Russia still has significant influence in Moldova, particularly in Moldova’s eastern breakaway region of Transnistria, where Moscow maintains a military presence. Although the Kremlin officially designates its force as peacekeepers, they support active Moscow-aligned separatists there.
Transnistria seceded from Moldova after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, with pro-Russian separatists fighting Moldovan government forces.
rc/fb (AFP, AP)