All international election monitoring missions attested to external influences during the two electoral exercises that were organized on October 20, expert Igor Boţan stated in a public debate hosted by IPN News Agency. According to him, the results of the first round of election and the referendum were influenced by Russia through the Shor network.
Igor Boțan said that the result of the October 20 referendum is a victory for the will of the citizens despite Russia's interference in the electoral process. The positive result of the referendum was welcomed by the international community and the Republic of Moldova has kept its European development course in the conditions of the hybrid war waged by Russia.
"All international election monitoring missions concluded that the elections were conducted well, but there was interference from outside, through the Shor network. This network was organized eight years ago, initially, through social stores. Subsequently, this network was expanded through social projects financed by Shor. All of them led to the corruption of voters. As for the international leaders, the leaders of the U.S., the EU, we know that they welcomed the positive result of the referendum and expressed their concern about Russia's interference in the electoral process in the Republic of Moldova. The results of October 20 represent the citizens' decision in the conditions of a hybrid war," said the expert.
Igor Botan pointed out that Russia influences the electoral processes in the Republic of Moldova through the group coordinated by convicted criminal Ilan Shor. Russia's influence on the results of the two electoral exercises of October 20 was also confirmed by the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Moldova Ion Munteanu, who explained that the bank transfer scheme was worked out by the Russian intelligence services.
"Alexandr Stoianoglo, when holding the position of prosecutor general, said that Shor as one of the final beneficiaries of the theft of the billion. Ilan Shor was sentenced in the Republic of Moldova to 15 years in prison, but we still feel the influence of this man. Obviously, there is also external influence. We see that Shor, although he banned entry into the Russian Federation, was in Russia and even obtained Russian citizenship. We see that Shor is supported by the Russian state institutions, including Promsvyazbank, the president of this bank publicly stating that this bank opens accounts for Moldovan citizens and it goes to hundreds of thousands of citizens of the Republic of Moldova, who receive financial aid simply because this bank deals with philanthropy. And this despite the fact that in Russia there are 14 million people living below the poverty line. I would like to see how Russia would react if China financed the population of a large territory of Russia, which it earlier took from China on the basis of unjust treaties," explained Igor Boţan.
The expert noted that Moldova's society is highly polarized and the authorities' task is to strengthen society. He expressed his hope that the Center for Strategic Communication and Combating Disinformation will work at full capacity and will succeed in combating propaganda and disinformation that are actively promoted by the Russian Federation.
"Our society is strongly divided and this is a big problem. The authorities must find legal tools to prevent these influences from outside. I hope that StratCom will work and all the propaganda that is now in the Republic of Moldova will be fought. I think that if StratCom worked, many of the themes used for disinformation could be combated," said the project's permanent expert
The public debate entitled "Russia's interference in the choice of Moldova: goals, manifestations, effects" was held as part of IPN’s project "Development of political culture through public debates". IPN Agency carries out the project with support from the German Hanns Seidel Foundation.
