The Security and Intelligence Service notified several providers of electronic communications services regarding the blocking of their users’ access to the web resources of Russia’s Promsvyazbank, a bank under international sanctions. The SIS says that it has identified “risks that pose a significant threat” to the security of the state and Moldova’s financial and banking market.

The SIS in particular found that the website was “circumventing” the provisions of the Moldovan banking legislation “in the interest of an organized criminal group, guided by foreign special services”.

The SIS further found that the bank’s financial messaging services and the exchange of electronic financial data through online resources, as well as its electronic application violated the Moldovan the law. “These data can be used in the uncontrolled territory of the Republic of Moldova, avoiding the legal supervision exercised by the competent authorities in the country, in particular the National Bank of Moldova and the Service for the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering”, the SIS said.

The fugitive politician Ilan Shor earlier announced that pensioners and public sector employees in Gagauzia, and pensioners in Orhei and Taraclia, will receive a monthly allowance of 2,000 lei on cards issued by Promsvyazbank. Subsequently, Moldovan Internet operators received a request from the SIS to block user access to some Russian websites and IP addresses, including those of Promsvyazbank.