The director of the Security and Intelligence Service (SIS) Alexandru Musteața said that the Republic of Moldova is subject to unprecedented hybrid atatcks. The country’s national security is exposed to exceptional dangers that require taking concrete measures. It was estimated that the sums allocated by the Russian Federation for destabilizing the Republic of Moldova exceed 1 billion lei, IPN reports.

In a news conference, the SIS director said that the hybrid war staged in Moldova by the Russian Federation and by crossborder criminal groups has intensified since 2022. Attempts were made to thwart the constitutional order and to take over by violence and by amplifying the radical separatist tendencies in southern Moldova, by Russia interfering in the election process, by propaganda and exploiting the organized crime elements, by altering the election and democratic process.

According to Alexandru Musteața, SIS data show that the violent removal of the government and taking over of power were planned by criminal groupings managed by other countries. “The authors of this scenario on the territory of the Republic of Moldova were determined to be representatives of the organized criminal group led by Ilan Shor, who was put on the international sanctions list and was sentenced to 15 years in jail (in Moldova, e.n.). The organized criminal group works under the screen of a number of political projects,” stated the SIS director.

The SIS, together with the General Police Inspectorate, the National Anticorruption Center and the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office documented the offering by a party that is contending in the November 5 elections and that is controlled by Ilan Shor of large funds coming from abroad. “All these methods are implemented through the agency of Ilan Shor, who created an organized criminal group consisting of MPs, public servants, representatives of the business community, journalists, political and opinion leaders,  and illegally finances political parties,” stated Alexandru Musteața.

According to him, the investigations show how serious and large the political corruption at national level is. The election process is corrupted in all the country’s localities. The police collected evidence for over 160 volumes of criminal cases, 63 of which were remitted to court. Over 90 million lei intended for corrupting voters and election runners and for illegally financing the election campaign was detected during the last few months alone.