Four activists of Ilan Shor’s party were detained and remanded in custody for a period of 30 days. They, along with other members of an organized criminal group, were planning destabilizing actions ahead of the presidential election and the constitutional referendum of October 20. To this end, more than 300 people regularly attended special training courses organized in the Russian Federation since June. The heads of the General Police Inspectorate, the Security and Intelligence Service and the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases told about the work of the destabilizing groups and the counteracting actions at a joint briefing, IPN reports.
Law enforcement officers carried out 88 searches in different localities in the country and, as a result of the extensive operations, it was established that groups of 20 people from Moldova systematically travelled to Russia for training from June until now. The participants were taught how to apply tactics of national division, destabilization of the constitutional order, provocation of public order maintaining bodies, techniques of mass psychology, how to handle weapons and various objects to cause non-lethal physical damage, said the head of the General Police Inspectorate Viorel Cernăuțeanu.
According to SIS director Alexandru Musteața, the young people’s trips to Moscow were financed by Ilan Shor through the agency of the NGO “Evrazia”. Some of the young people were trained by foreign instructors connected to entities associated with the private military companies Wagner and Ferma (The Farm), established by Yevgeny Prigozhin. At the same time, some people were selected for advanced training, in guerrilla camps, in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most of the exercises took place since the beginning of September to mid-October.
According to data collected by the Security and Intelligence Service, among the coordinators of these actions are foreign citizens Konstantin Goloskokov and Mikhail Potepkin, the latter being under international sanctions. Potepkin is known for his connections with Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian organization Ferma, who last year helped finance and organize destabilizing protests in Moldova. Currently, Mikhail Potepkin is considered responsible for carrying out actions of malign influence worldwide within AKSON entity.
The SIS also identified 11 foreign citizens who played the role of instructors at training camps in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The large sums of money and objects seized during the searches will be attached to the criminal case and will be examined by the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS). Based on the accumulated evidence, prosecutors will decide who will be charged with planning public disorders.
The law enforcement officers warn the young people in Moldova not to get involved in illegal actions presented as peaceful protests because these can degenerate into civil disturbance, accompanied by violence among participants, pogroms, arson, destruction of property, use of firearms, as well as violent or armed resistance to the representatives of the authorities. According to the law, such behavior can be punished with up to eight years in prison.
It should be noted that seven men were convicted in another similar criminal case that was recently sent to court by PCCOCS prosecutors.
