It is a system of magnitude “unprecedented” remotely controlled from Russia. Moldovans received a total of more than $15 million to vote against pro-Western President Maia Sandu and membership in the European Union (EU) on October 20, police revealed on Thursday October 3.
This sum, which corresponds to 13.6 million euros, was paid in the month of September alone, police chief Viorel Cernauteanu announced Thursday at a press conference in the capital, Chisinau. He described a phenomenon unprecedented in its scale, with more than a hundred thousand people involved, aiming to “disrupt the electoral process”.
According to documents discovered by investigators, “the criminal organization led by Ilan Shor recruited people ready to vote in exchange for money” for a candidate designated the day before through the social network Telegram. This fugitive oligarch, convicted last year in absentia for fraud, announced in April, from Moscow, the creation of a coalition of pro-Russian parties in Moldova.
The network, “some members of which are located in Russia”works according to “a well-organized hierarchical structure”detailed the police in a press release. Under the supervision of one hundred and thirty territorial chiefs, 70,000 were enlisted “sympathizers” paid from 46 to 93 euros per month to slip an anti-Western ballot into the ballot box on D-Day.
Warning of Russian ‘plot’
They were also called to vote no in the referendum on the EU, organized on the same day as the presidential election. In total, twenty-five searches were carried out on Thursday, allowing the seizure of “cell phones and amounts of money in different currencies”. All payments made are “legal”Ilan Shor reacted on Telegram, accusing Moldova of becoming “a police state” and calling on his troops to “continue the fight”.
Moldova, long in the Kremlin’s orbit, nestled between Romania and Ukraine in the grip of the Russian invasion, has begun a turn towards the West under the presidency of Mme Sandu, favorite of the poll. The leader regularly accuses Russia of carrying out a “hybrid warfare” in this former Soviet Republic candidate for the EU, a concern relayed by the Council of Europe and its Western allies.
In June, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada warned of a “conspiracy” Russian aimed at influencing the presidential election and “incite demonstrations” if a pro-Russian candidate did not win. According to Moldovan think tank WatchDog, Russia has spent more than $100 million this year in the run-up to the polls.
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