The Moldovan opposition united in Moscow

Moldova’s opposition parties, which condemn pro-EU President Maia Sandu’s bid to secure membership of the European Union, said on Sunday that form an electoral block during an event held in Moscow, reports Reuters.

The groups called their alliance Victorie (Victory), formed around fugitive pro-Russian business magnate Ilan Shor, sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for major fraud in the country, located between Ukraine and Romania.

An important place in the coalition, which is preparing for presidential elections and a referendum on EU membership, is occupied by the leaders of the pro-Russian Gagauzia region, populated mainly by ethnic Turks.

“We are offering a new path for Moldova. The idea of ​​the EU is just a phantom that is destructive for our citizens and for the country,” Shor told a meeting in a Moscow hotel in comments reported by Moldovan newsletter newsmaker.md.

“Our job is to show people alternatives that have worked over time.”

According to Shore, it means renewing damaged ties with Russia and with Russian-led regional organizations.

Evgenia Gutsul, the leader or baskhan of Gagauzia, said the group aims to “protect Moldova’s independence, protect our country from being drawn into military operations… and restore friendly ties with Russia.”

Gutsul visited Russia twice over the past two months and sought help from Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin against Moldova’s central government.

Moldova’s Infrastructure Minister Andrei Spinu said that the group was deliberately created “right next to the Kremlin”.

“The whole country saw these traitors to the nation in Moscow,” Spinu wrote on Facebook.

Sandu condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and fragments of drones and missiles fell repeatedly on Moldovan territory.

Moldova’s pro-European president has named Russia and corruption as the biggest threats to his country and has called for a referendum in October on joining the EU to be held alongside the presidential election.

Shor, who lives in Israel, was convicted last year in connection with the “heist of the century” in Moldova, in which $1 billion disappeared from the banking system in 2014. Moldovan authorities have long sought his extradition.

A political party bearing his name has been banned, although a new party linked to him has enough support to enter parliament, according to opinion polls.

In the Oct. 20 election, Sandu will face former president and Socialist Party leader Igor Dodon, who last week called on voters to boycott the simultaneous EU referendum on the grounds that the president was using it to win re-election. Polls give Sandu 35.1% support in the first round against 15.8% for Dodon.

Dodon and Communist Party leader Vladimir Voronin, another former president, share common cause with Shor in opposing the referendum. But they show little sign of acting together.