Moldovan officials carry out raids and detain 1 over alleged Russian financing of a party

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldova’s anticorruption agency said it carried out more than 30 raids and detained one person on Tuesday over the financing of a political party allegedly linked to Russia through cryptocurrencies, days ahead of a key parliamentary election.

The National Anticorruption Center and prosecutors from the Balti municipality said the case involves money laundering and electoral corruption. Investigators said they targeted members and supporters of a political party who were suspected of having implemented “a criminal plan” ahead of Sunday’s vote. One person was detained for 72 hours.

Moscow has repeatedly denied meddling in Moldova.

Officials said that evidence collected suggested the illegal funds “would have come from the Russian Federation, from members of a criminal group,” and transferred through cryptocurrency accounts. “These were layered and liquefied through illegal crypto exchange service providers, and subsequently converted into cash and distributed by couriers to the final recipients,” it said.

Anti-graft authorities said they seized 800,000 lei ($50,000) in cash in multiple currencies, seized accounting documents and electronic storage devices, and identified cash deliveries totaling approximately 9,000,000 lei ($540,000) made through cryptocurrencies.

Tuesday’s searches were the latest in a string of investigations in the lead-up to the election on Sunday, when Moldovans will vote to choose a new 101-seat legislature. Many view the vote as a choice between Moldova’s continued path toward European Union membership or closer ties with Russia.

On Monday, 74 people were detained during 250 raids as part of an investigation into an alleged Russia-backed plan to incite “mass riots” and destabilize the country around the election.

Moldova’s authorities said that the unrest plot was “coordinated from the Russian Federation, through criminal elements” and that the suspects, who were aged between 19 and 45 years old, had traveled to Serbia where they allegedly received training.

Election seen as East and West choice

Moldova’s pro-Western President Maia Sandu said in a statement Monday that the Kremlin is spending hundreds of millions of euros to try to sway the upcoming vote, and that her country’s “sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and European future are in danger.”

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said in a statement on Tuesday that European politicians were attempting to ensure Moldova stayed in line with its own “Russophobic policies.”

“They plan to do this at any cost,” the statement said. It also accused European officials of attempting to falsify votes in Moldova’s upcoming elections.

In the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moldova applied to join the EU and was granted candidate status that year. Brussels agreed to open accession negotiations last year.

Moldovan authorities have long accused Russia of conducting a hybrid war — meddling in elections, disinformation campaigns, illicitly funding pro-Russian parties — to try to derail the country’s path toward European Union membership.

Moldova’s westward shift further irked Moscow and tensions between the two nations skyrocketed.

Last year, Moldovans voted narrowly in favor of securing the country’s EU path and elected Sandu to a second term in a separate presidential election. Both of those votes were also overshadowed by widespread claims of Russian interference, which Moscow denied.

Moldovans face a flood of disinformation

In the run-up to Sunday’s vote, Moldovans are also facing a deluge of disinformation driven by artificial intelligence across large social media platforms and websites mimicking Western media outlets, which multiple monitoring groups have attributed to Russia or pro-Russian actors.

They say the campaigns aim to undermine support for the ruling pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity, or PAS, which Sandu founded in 2016. PAS won a clear majority in the 2021 parliamentary election but risks losing it on Sunday, with no viable pro-European alternatives on the ballot.

A spokesperson for Meta told the AP that the company is in close contact with authorities in Moldova ahead of the election and has dedicated teams who can respond quickly to “potential threats” throughout the election cycle.

“We have previously disrupted the vast majority of the inauthentic activity identified in these reports,” the spokesperson said. “We stand ready to investigate any further activity that may violate our policies.”

Google also said in a statement that it proactively tracks and tackles coordinated election-influence operations.

TikTok says it removed more than 100,000 fake accounts between July 1 and Sept. 9, and that it disrupted seven networks targeting Moldovans with political content this year. Ahead of the election, the platform has also taken down a number of accounts that violated its policies against covert influence operations.

Disinformation refers to misinformation created and spread intentionally, mainly to confuse or mislead.

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Katie Marie contributed from Manchester, U.K.