The European Council said in a statement on Tuesday that it had imposed sanctions on seven individuals and three entities “responsible for actions aimed at destabilising” Moldova, whose leaders are bidding to join the EU by 2030, APA reports quoting Reuters.
A statement by the Council said those targeted were close associates of Ilan Shor, a fugitive business magnate sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison in connection with the 2014 disappearance of $1 billion from the Moldovan banking system.
The EU statement said some of the people listed “have been actively involved in vote buying schemes, in the context of the presidential elections and of the constitutional referendum on EU accession of 2024, and bribery to corrupt several politicians”.
Victoria Furtuna, leader of the Moldova Mare party and subject to the order, vowed to mount a legal challenge, saying groups in Brussels were “shamelessly and openly …choosing on their own who is going to run our sovereign state”.