Germany Latest news, analysis and comment on German politics and beyond.įrance Latest news, analysis and comment on French politics and beyond.Įlections in Europe Latest news, analysis and comment on elections in Europe and beyond.Ĭoronavirus in Europe The latest news, data and analysis on the world’s pandemic response. “We are certainly worried about … what we call the ‘coalition for corruption and war,’” Gavrilița said, adding that Shor among others “are very much siding with Russian elements and trying to take advantage of discontent.”īrussels Latest news, analysis and comment from POLITICO’s editors and guest writers in Europe. Shor's Russia-friendly ȘOR party has been organizing weekly anti-government protests in Moldova's capital, and the country's President Maia Sandu has accused Russian secret services of helping stage those demonstrations. Treasury sanctioned him on October 26 and said he was working in Moscow's interests to destabilize the Chișinău government to return Moldova "to Russia's sphere of influence." Relations between Moscow and Chișinău soured after Natalia Gavrilița's pro-European government swept to power in 2021 | Victor Jack/POLITICOĪmong these is Ilan Shor, former mayor of the city of Orhei, convicted of stealing $1 billion from Moldovan banks in 2014 and currently living in exile in Israel. “Of course, then this can be exploited by various forces,” she added, referring to a trove of intelligence documents obtained by Ukrainian officials and reviewed by the Washington Post revealing the deeply intertwined relationship between Russian secret services and opposition parties in Moldova to whom it has allegedly funneled millions. “We are hit orders of magnitude more by the same problems that European countries have, but at the same time, we are much weaker to deal with these problems.” “We are seeing increased security risks and anxiety, we are seeing a loss in purchasing power and a loss in real wages,” Gavrilița said. That would come on top of support packages this year from the EU, International Monetary Fund and European Bank of Reconstruction and Development worth a combined €400 million. The energy crunch has forced Moldova to buy electricity at four times the previous price on the European spot market, Gavrilița said, adding that she would now ask Moldova’s European partners for €450 million in aid for this winter at a high-level solidarity summit hosted by France on November 21. “I don't want people to underestimate … how much of a collateral victim of the Ukrainian war the Moldovan people are,” Gavrilița said from an unlit office in Chișinău’s Soviet-built Government House, where the corridors are dark as the government scrambles to save energy where it can. Kyiv stopped exporting power in October partly due to Russian attacks on its critical infrastructure, while Transnistria - a pro-Russia breakaway territory in eastern Moldova that previously provided over two-thirds of the country’s electricity - cut off exports last week. To make matters worse, up to 90 percent of the country’s traditional electricity supply suddenly dried up in the past month. Those volumes may fall to “50 percent” of gas consumption over November, Gavrilița said. Last month, Russia’s gas export monopoly Gazprom slashed deliveries to the country by 30 percent and threatened a total cutoff “at any time” citing a payment dispute in a move that critics branded as blackmail. Relations between Moscow and Chișinău, historically totally reliant on Russia for its gas, soured after Gavrilița's pro-European government was swept to power in 2021, and reached rock bottom this year when Moldova came out strongly against the invasion of Ukraine.
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