Another 64 priests of the Moldovan Orthodox Church will reportedly travel to Moscow next week, according to lists seen by reporters at deschide.md.

They were initially supposed to fly August 25, but the trip was delayed following an investigation published on August 19. On the same day, reports were also broadcast by several TV channels. The reporters asked the priests why they were going to Moscow and whether the trips were organized people associated with the fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor.

As reported by deschide.md, the list of the clerics who did not arrive in Moscow in August was drafted at a meeting of priests from northern Moldova.

“On September 1-2, another 64 clerics would go to Russia, where the Moscow Patriarchate and Ilan Shor will give them instructions on how to act ahead of the presidential election and the referendum this autumn, and at the end they will each be given a MIR card”, deschide.md reported.

In August, after the investigation was published, the Metropolis of Moldova denied that it had sent priests to Moscow. In a reaction to media reports, the Metropolis stated that it did not organize or coordinate the pilgrimages made by a number of priests from the Orthodox Church of Moldova to Moscow.