Hundreds of Moldovan citizens trained by Russia were set to overthrow government, police says
The heads of Moldova's security institutions announced on Thursday, October 17, that several hundred Moldovan citizens were trained in Russia, Serbia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina to incite street movements aimed at overthrowing the constitutional order.
The head of the National Police, Viorel Cernăuțeanu, the director of the Information and Security Service (SIS), Alexandru Musteața, and interim chief prosecutor Victor Furtună revealed that training camps were attended by well-known instructors from Russian paramilitary groups like Wagner, according to police reports.
Training started in June, when teams of 20 people, totaling over 300, regularly traveled to Russia to attend sessions at the Krasnaia base. These individuals were trained in protest techniques, police confrontation tactics, weapon extraction from law enforcement, and quick crowd withdrawal.
The one providing the funds for the training is allegedly Ilan Șor, a pro-Russian businessman hiding in Moscow after being convicted of corruption in Moldova. He funded trips to Russia, but also Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The prosecutor's office is investigating several criminal cases concerning possible instigations of mass disorder as a result of the revelations. So far, around 100 searches have been conducted, and four people have been detained. As a result of the searches, authorities seized various amounts of money in euros, US dollars, Ukrainian hryvnias, and Moldovan lei, which were presumably intended to finance protests that could escalate into mass disorder. The total sum amounted to over RON 1.6 million.
Other items seized included activist lists, flyers, laptops, high-performance phones, clothing with various inscriptions, electronic signatures not belonging to the searched individuals, Russian bank cards, and airline tickets for the Chișinău-Istanbul-Moscow route.
At this moment, the risk level of destabilization movements is assessed as being low, according to the Moldovan police cited by G4Media.
These revelations come just three days before the presidential elections in Moldova. The country is currently advancing toward EU membership, a path set by pro-Western Moldovan president Maia Sandu, now up for re-election.
“The Kremlin is likely prepared to pursue several lines of effort in the future to derail Moldova’s EU path, such as attempting to influence and capture Moldovan state institutions; exploiting the Kremlin's military, economic, and political ties to the pro-Russian Moldovan regions of Transnistria and Gagauzia; and conducting reflexive control campaigns to shape EU member states' decision-making regarding Moldova's EU accession,” the Institute for the Study of War said in a recent press release.
The Institute also said that Moldova's future as an independent and sovereign state is directly tied to the outcome of Russia's war in Ukraine.
(Photo source: Sjankauskas | Dreamstime.com)
