(Bloomberg) — Moldova’s chief negotiator in talks to join the European Union said Russia has pumped about 100 million euros into an effort to thwart a crucial election Sunday through disinformation and destabilization operations and payments to voters.
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Deputy Prime Minister Cristina Gherasimov, who is responsible for the former Soviet republic’s European integration, warned days before Moldova’s presidential election and referendum on EU accession that such tactics could be exported elsewhere if they succeed.
“One thing must be clear to our partners: we are a testing ground for new methods – and whatever will work in Moldova will also be used in other countries,” Gherasimov said in an interview in Brussels this week.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu will seek a second term in office on Sunday and continue her pro-European course with the EU referendum. The country of 2.6 million, wedged between Romania and Ukraine, is on course to break 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 as polls show a majority of Moldovans support joining the EU, authorities have warned of unprecedented attempts by the Kremlin to upend democratic institutions. This may include inciting violence with weapons, explosives and drones, Moldova’s police chief Viorel Cernauteanu said on Thursday.
The chief on Thursday outlined what he said were Kremlin-led sabotage plans involving more than 300 trained officers deployed to provoke election-related protests. These plans were coordinated by groups linked to the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, he said.
Cernauteanu also said earlier in October that payments were made to some 130,000 people, or 5% of Moldovan’s population, to undermine the election as they voted 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 state, spreading the narrative that turning to Brussels amounts to choosing war. The invasion of Ukraine is expected to spread fear in the hope that more Moldovans will reject accession in the referendum, she said.
A pro-Kremlin government in Moldova is seen in Moscow as a stronger lever in the conflict against Ukraine, especially given Russia’s troop presence in the breakaway region of Transnistria, the deputy prime minister said.
“The stakes for Russia are quite high in Moldova – 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 aimed at combating disinformation. Authorities in the capital Chisinau rely on the technical knowledge of allies in the West, Gherasimov said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this month announced a record €1.8 billion in aid for Moldova, to help boost an economic recovery following the fallout from the war in Ukraine. The country’s economy shrank by 4.6% in 2022 and saw only a slight recovery last year.
Gherasimov called the decade-end goal of joining the bloc ambitious. The key challenges will be tackling the economy – which has the potential to double in the next decade – and breaking down corruption in the justice system, the deputy prime minister said.
“We are in an internal war with our own judges and prosecutors who have been benefiting from a highly corrupt and closed system for decades and that is slowing down reform,” Gherasimov said. “But we are determined to continue.”
These efforts have suffered from a lack of resources. The country’s top anti-corruption official, Veronica Dragalin, told Bloomberg that the vetting efforts led to a wave of resignations, leaving her office far short of the number of prosecutors needed to do the job.
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