Moldovan police confiscated a million dollars from opposition parties after a meeting in Moscow

Moldova often accuses the Kremlin of trying to incite tension among the 2.6 million in a populous country.

On Tuesday night, around 150 Moldovans – most of them at Chisinau airport – were searched, police chief Viktor Cernauteanu told reporters. None of those who were searched were arrested.

In total, more than 20 million were confiscated. Moldovan lei (about 1 million US dollars); police described it as a “scheme of illegal funding of political parties from dark sources”.

Paraphernalia related to the Moscow event – mugs, caps, notebooks and T-shirts – were also confiscated.

At the Moscow event, the parties announced the creation of the “Pergalė” political bloc ahead of Moldova’s presidential elections and the October referendum on EU membership.

Leaders of the anti-government bloc condemned the searches as harassment. Irina Lozovan, a lawmaker from the pro-Russian Renewal Party, called it a “huge mistake”.

The bloc is centered around fugitive pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor, who was convicted in absentia of fraud.

Chisinau seeks to ban I. Shor’s opposition party, which it accuses of acting against the country’s national interests.

Adrianas Balutelis, the head of Moldovan President Maja Sandu’s administration, called the politicians gathered at the Moscow event “the highest servants of the Kremlin regime” in a Telegram message.

Acting head of the General Prosecutor’s Office, Ion Munteanu, said that the politicians who went to Moscow on Sunday are being investigated for alleged “treason”.

This crime is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

“From our point of view, this action has a tendency to threaten the security of the state,” I. Munteanu told the Chisinau television channel PROTV.