Moldovan authorities announced on September 22 that they have dismantled a Russia-trained group preparing mass unrest ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for September 28.

The action is part of a broader effort carried out by the Moldovan authorities to organise free parliamentary elections amid an intense hybrid war waged by the Kremlin through the Moldovan fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, who is channelling significant amounts of money to buy votes and pay anti-government protesters. 

In coordinated raids in the morning of September 22, law enforcement searched 250 locations and targeted 111 individuals suspected of involvement in the network. The group was trained in Serbia under the supervision of Russian special services, a Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) statement said. 

The investigation began in June after prosecutors discovered Moldovan nationals, aged between 19 and 45, travelling to Serbia for training in exchange for about €400 per trip. According to the PCCOCS, recruits were taught how to break police cordons, resist law enforcement, and handle rubber batons, handcuffs and in some cases firearms.

During the raids, authorities detained 74 people and seized weapons, ammunition, camouflage clothing and tents. The case was opened on charges of preparing mass disorder and destabilisation in the context of the upcoming vote.

“By rapidly mobilising tactical groups, the coordinator aimed to generate incidents that would discredit state institutions and affect the perception of the legitimacy of the elections,” the statement said. 

“The groups would have the objective of amplifying subversive activities, mainly during the electoral and post-electoral period, which involve combining diversionary-subversive activities with public actions aimed at influencing public opinion.” 

“Many of those targeted are cooperating with the investigation and have provided detailed information about the trip to Serbia and the training organised,” PCCOCS acting head Victor Furtună told a press conference alongside police chief Viorel Cernăuțeanu and Intelligence and Security Service director Alexandru Musteața, as quoted by Europa Liberă. 

The findings match details of a Russian plan previously reported by Bloomberg, citing documents and European officials, which described strategies to influence Moldova’s elections. These included recruiting Moldovans abroad to vote at EU polling stations, staging protests, spreading disinformation, and using compromising material to pressure officials. The documents also reportedly outlined possible protests to demand President Maia Sandu’s resignation if the pro-EU Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) loses the elections, or to challenge the outcome if PAS wins.

Polls indicate the PAS is in the lead ahead of the election, but it is unclear whether the party will secure enough votes for a majority in parliament. 

Ahead of the vote, political parties linked to Shor have been banned from running and the politicians involved in the illegal financing are on trial. Some pro-Russian politicians saw their civil rights restricted based on sanctions set by third-party states, under a decision recently upheld by the Constitutional Court. 

Moldovan authorities also froze the bank accounts of organisations and individuals including Irina Vlah, former governor of the pro-Russian autonomous region of Gagauzia and a leading figure in Heart of Moldova, part of the main opposition bloc.

The authorities' efforts on the one hand and the electoral corruption pursued by Russia's intermediaries on the other, leave little room for political sophistication, turning the general election into a de facto referendum on the country's EU integration. 

Less than a year ago, a referendum on this issue was won, but only by a very narrow margin, thanks largely to the votes from Moldova’s diaspora. This time, a defeat for the pro-EU camp would derail the country's EU integration and worsen the region's security situation.