funnelled billions of dollars<\/a> into pro-Russian parties, vote-buying schemes and propaganda campaigns aimed at stoking anti-western sentiment.<\/p>\nLast week, authorities carried out 250 raids and detained dozens of suspects as part of an investigation into an alleged Russia-backed plot to incite \u201cmass riots\u201d around the election.<\/p>\n
A Reuters investigation revealed on Wednesday how Moscow has recruited and paid dozens of priests in the deeply religious nation to urge congregations to vote against PAS.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s SVR foreign intelligence service released a statement this week claiming Nato forces were gathering in Romania and were prepared to occupy Moldova after the vote if the \u201ccrude falsifications of elections being prepared in Brussels and Chi\u0219in\u0103u\u201d led to unrest.<\/p>\n
The SVR, which has a history of making provocative and unsourced claims about western plans, did not provide any evidence for the statement, though it is evidence of how concerned Moscow is about events in Moldova.<\/p>\n
A western intelligence official told the Guardian they believed Moldova had become \u201cthe key Russian foreign policy priority after Ukraine\u201d in recent months. The official also said the team dealing with Moldova inside Russia\u2019s presidential administration had been changed this year, with the goal of pursuing a more aggressive policy in the country.<\/p>\n
The outcome of the election will be closely watched in Brussels and other European capitals, where officials fear Moscow could gain a foothold in a strategically vital region as it intensifies its hybrid war across the continent.<\/p>\n
In September, leaders from France, Germany and Poland travelled to Chi\u0219in\u0103u to show support for Moldova\u2019s EU aspirations and warn against Russian interference.<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, echoed that message at the UN general assembly in New York this week. \u201cEurope cannot afford to lose Moldova too,\u201d he said, warning that Georgia and Belarus had already fallen under Moscow\u2019s sway.<\/p>\n
Sandu\u2019s main vulnerability is the economy. Inflation has remained stubbornly high, emigration continues apace, and GDP growth has been modest, though supporters argue the challenges stem largely from external shocks.<\/p>\n
In 2022, the country was plunged into an energy crisis after the Kremlin-controlled energy provider Gazprom slashed gas supplies by a third and doubled prices, in what was widely seen as political payback for Sandu\u2019s pro-western course.<\/p>\n
Then Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine sent shock waves through Moldova\u2019s fragile economy. Situated just a few hours\u2019 drive from Odesa, Moldova has taken in more Ukrainian refugees per capita than any other country, straining its healthcare system, public services and infrastructure. Inflation spiked to 40% as trade with Moscow and Kyiv collapsed.<\/p>\n
Additional reporting by Shaun Walker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moldovans are due to vote on Sunday in a pivotal parliamentary election that will determine whether the country…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-454514","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115274459683983553","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}