Russia bribes Moldovan voters

The General Inspectorate of Police reported that police officers and prosecutors of Moldova conducted searches in Chisinau and Rishkani as part of several criminal cases related to voter bribery and illegal party financing.

As noted, during the searches it was again confirmed that members of Ilan Shor's network and the pro-Russian "Victory" bloc are recruiting Moldovan citizens and offering money in exchange for a vote "against one of the candidates."

During the searches, among other things, the suspects' smartphones with the Russian "Promsvyazbank" application, through which the participants of the scheme received funds, labor contracts with the Russian organization "Eurasia" and significant sums of money were seized.

Earlier, the Moldovan police said that before the presidential elections and the referendum on the EU, more than 24 million dollars were transferred to Moldova from Russia, and the fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor was behind it.

Russia transports Moldovan citizens free of charge to participate in the elections

About 150 citizens of Moldova were brought from Russia to the second round of the presidential elections of Moldova, which will take place on November 3.

Three buses with Moldovan citizens returning from the Russian Federation arrived on the night of November 2 at the Cahul-Oancha checkpoint.

Sources in the Customs Service and the Border Police told IPN that there were about 150 people in the three buses who flew free of charge from Moscow to Istanbul and then continued their journey by bus.

There, the passengers were transferred to three other buses belonging to the Bulgarian company, on which they arrived at the Cahul-Oancha border crossing.

After talking with the passengers, the customs officials established that they did not pay for either the air flight or the vehicle.

In the Russian Federation, they were told: free transport is organized for citizens who want to return home to take part in the second round of the presidential election.

Elections in Moldova: what is known

On November 3, the second round of presidential elections will be held in Moldova, in which incumbent President Maia Sandu and candidate of the pro-Russian "socialists" Alexander Stoianoglo will compete.

Voting by mail for the second round has already ended.

In the first round, Sandu received 42.37% of the votes, and the candidate of the pro-Russian Party of Socialists of Moldova, Alexander Stoianoglo, received 26.02%.