SIS Head Accuses Russia of Election Interference and Involvement in Coup Attempt in Moldova

Moldova has become the victim of a large-scale hybrid war waged by the Russian Federation. In two years, Moscow has allocated more than 1 billion lei to destabilize the situation in Moldova. This was stated by the head of the Security and Intelligence Service (SIS), Alexandru Musteata, at a briefing on 3 November. According to official, an attempt of a coup d'état and violent seizure of power by criminal groups from abroad was launched in the second half of 2022. The SIS director claimed that about 500 foreign citizens with experience in street riots were involved in the illegal actions. Musteata said that the organizers of this scenario are linked to the structures involved in the development and implementation of political technologies in the Russian Federation, which, in their turn, are linked to the Kremlin administration and the Russian intelligence services. The SIS head added that the criminal group operating in Moldova was led by the fugitive politician Ilan Shor, who is under international sanctions and sentenced to 15 years in prison. According to Musteata, the plan to destabilize Moldova also includes disrupting the electoral processes in the local elections scheduled for 5 November. “The ISIS has revealed activities aimed at promoting the interests of a foreign state - the Russian Federation. We monitor many attempts to compromise the vote. The party participating in the elections and controlled by Ilan Shor uses financial means of unknown origin in violation of the law provisions. All these actions are realized through Ilan Shor, who created a criminal group of MPs, civil servants, representatives of the business environment, political and public opinion leaders,” Musteata said. At the same time, he noted that over the last few months, the criminal group allocated about 90 million lei to illegally finance the election campaign and bribe voters.