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Russia Today
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
EU candidate state blocks opposition from elections (VIDEO)
Moldova's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) decided on Saturday that a Euroskeptic opposition party should be barred from participating in the upcoming parliamentary election. Hundreds of Moldovans from the Victory political bloc had picketed outside of the CEC building earlier in the day to demand that the party be allowed to register for the vote. Later on Saturday, the government body announced that it rejected the bloc's registration, citing alleged ties to Russia and to exiled opposition figure Ilan Shor. 'The CEC decision is politically motivated. We will appeal it in court,' Moldovan MP and representative for the bloc, Vasile Bolea, said according to RIA. Videos of the picket taken by Sputnik showed hundreds of protesters who could be heard shouting 'we demand fair elections,' and 'down with dictatorship,' as well as waving banners outside of the CEC building. This is not the first time Chisinau has refused the opposition party the right to take part in elections. Late last year, the CEC denied Victory the right to register its candidate for Moldova's presidential election. Incumbent pro-EU President Maia Sandu narrowly won the vote and secured a second presidential term, although Moscow accused Chisinau of disenfranchising the nearly 500,000 Moldovans living in Russia. Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe later stated that the election had not set 'a level playing field' for the contestants. Sandu has accelerated Moldova's EU and NATO accession efforts since she was first elected in 2020. However, her decisions have increasingly seen pushback from Moldovans on the backdrop of worsening economic prospects and a crackdown on dissent. The European Council on Tuesday blacklisted the Victory bloc, as well as two other organizations, accusing them of 'undermining' democracy in Moldova. The body also imposed personal sanctions on seven opposition individuals over their links to Shor.
The Guardian
18-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Crypto donations could entirely corrupt British politics. Labour must act quickly
Our party finance rules are riddled with loopholes. Shell companies. Unincorporated associations. Anonymous donations routed through digital campaigns between elections. All legal. All ripe for abuse. And now, a new gateway has opened: cryptocurrency. When someone buys a cryptocurrency their identity is anonymous, but the transaction itself is recorded on the blockchain and is publicly visible. So far we know that this anonymity has allowed cryptocurrencies to be used to fund everything from sanctions evasion to election interference. A recent report from the Centre for Information Resilience revealed that A7A5, a new 'digital rouble', has already been linked to sanctions evasions by Russians. The report also found that Ilan Shor, a fugitive oligarch who has been accused of being involved with Russian-backed attempts to meddle in Moldovan elections, had allegedly used the currency to funnel at least $39m (£29m) into the bank accounts of thousands of Moldovans in exchange for their votes. In Britain, Reform UK has already declared that it plans to accept crypto donations. This is the new frontier of campaign financing. Cryptocurrencies give people plenty of ways to hide, obscuring who is funding political parties and what they might want in return. Online 'mixers' can blend an individual's cryptocurrency with others, making it practically impossible to trace the origin of individual coins. People can also donate using multiple crypto wallets with different addresses, splitting large donations into smaller amounts that bypass the reporting thresholds for political donations. This is a system custom-built for hostile actors and is wide open to abuse, especially by those who launder foreign money into the bank accounts of UK citizens before passing it to British political parties. And Russia is ready to move. It has spent about £230m subverting democracies in at least 24 countries since 2014. This week, ministers will table a mini white paper that will prepare the ground for a new elections bill. It contains some good ideas. The government will introduce tougher 'know your donor' rules. But it is impossible to really know your donor if they have given money in crypto. The better solution would be banning crypto donations outright (Ireland and Brazil have already done so). The government should also ban unchecked, unverified and unlimited companies or associations – which aren't required to file accounts – from donating cash. Shadowy groups known as 'unincorporated associations' have channelled more than £60m into British politics in the past two decades, but do not have to file accounts or explain where their money comes from. It is all too easy to earn money abroad and route it into the bank account of a UK citizen, from where it is then forwarded to a political party. This creates huge vulnerabilities. In 2022, the New York Times reported concerns that money transferred from a Russian bank account into the bank account of a UK citizen might have made its way onward into the coffers of the Conservative party. Ehud Sheleg, the UK citizen, said that his donation to the party was unconnected to a gift from his Russian father-in-law, and the Electoral Commission later said they had found no grounds to investigate the donation. When I reported it to the National Crime Agency, it told me there was no offence because ultimately a UK citizen wrote the cheque to the Tories. There is no evidence that Sheleg was doing anything wrong. But this mechanism could be exploited by bad actors. For that reason, only profits or income earned in the UK should be allowed to fund political parties. The National Crime Agency and Electoral Commission need more resources if they are to investigate these problems effectively. And they need to be able to impose much larger fines. Labour pledged in its manifesto to strengthen the rules on political donations. The foreign secretary, David Lammy, has worked with clarity to tackle the dirty money that infects global politics – and to shut down London's role as the world's favourite laundromat. Ministers are waking up to the threat of dark money, and a new elections bill is good news for those who want to clean up politics. But only if we close the loopholes. Believe me, the Kremlin is watching. Liam Byrne is the Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill
Reuters
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
EU council sanctions individuals, entities responsible for destabilising Moldova
BRUSSELS, July 15 (Reuters) - The European Council said in a statement on Tuesday that it had imposed sanctions on seven individuals and three entities "responsible for actions aimed at destabilising" Moldova, whose leaders are bidding to join the EU by 2030. A statement by the Council said those targeted were close associates of Ilan Shor, a fugitive business magnate sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison in connection with the 2014 disappearance of $1 billion from the Moldovan banking system. Shor lives in Russia, where he oversees the activities of the pro-Russian "Victory" bloc, accused by Moldovan authorities of illegally financing electoral activities in Moldova, which lies between Ukraine and Romania. The bloc was barred by the courts from participating in last year's Moldovan presidential election and referendum on Moldova's drive to join the European Union. Its leaders are barred from entering the EU and are subject to an asset freeze under the directive. The EU statement said some of the people listed "have been actively involved in vote buying schemes, in the context of the presidential elections and of the constitutional referendum on EU accession of 2024, and bribery to corrupt several politicians". Victoria Furtuna, leader of the Moldova Mare party and subject to the order, vowed to mount a legal challenge, saying groups in Brussels were "shamelessly and openly ...choosing on their own who is going to run our sovereign state". Two others on the list are pro-Russian lawmakers who have disappeared after being convicted on corruption charges. Pro-European President Maia Sandu, who has accused the Kremlin of trying to subvert her country, won re-election last year by a slim margin and a referendum endorsing her EU membership campaign also passed only narrowly. Moldovan police last year accused Shor of funnelling large sums illegally to voters ahead of the polls and Sandu said the vote-buying scheme had influenced the outcome of the votes. A poll published on Tuesday credited Sandu's Party of Action and Solidarity with 27.4% of voting intentions ahead of a September parliamentary election, compared to 10.4% for the pro-Russian opposition Socialists and 6.2% for the Victory bloc.
Russia Today
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
EU blacklists opposition figures in candidate country
The European Council has imposed sanctions on seven individuals and three entities in Moldova linked to exiled opposition leader Ilan Shor. The new designations, announced on Tuesday, target the Israeli-born businessman's 'close associates,' who have allegedly attempted to destabilize the EU candidate country. Shor, founder of the banned Euroskeptic SOR party and current leader of the Victory opposition bloc, fled Moldova in 2019 amid a massive bank fraud scandal. He was later stripped of his citizenship there and sentenced in absentia to a lengthy prison term. He has maintained his innocence, insisting the charges are politically motivated. The EU sanctioned him in 2023, and he was granted Russian citizenship the following year. The European Council has also blacklisted the Victory bloc itself, accusing it of spreading false information and buying votes. Two additional entities have been sanctioned over alleged election interference. Those listed are subject to asset freezes and travel bans, and the sanctions prohibit any funds or economic resources from being made available to them. With the latest designations, such EU measures now apply to 23 individuals and five entities in Moldova. In June, Chisinau witnessed violent clashes between riot police and Orthodox Christian protesters at an anti-LGBTQ rally. While President Maia Sandu's administration is pushing for closer ties with the EU, conservative and religious groups have voiced growing resistance to what they view as the foreign-backed imposition of liberal social norms. Moldova, a former Soviet republic, has accelerated its EU and NATO integration efforts since Sandu's election in 2020. However, her policies have increasingly come under fire at home, particularly over economic stagnation and the suppression of dissent. Sandu has defended the crackdowns as necessary to combat alleged Russian influence, labeling opposition parties and media outlets as criminal actors. Moscow, for its part, has dismissed all accusations of election interference as baseless and politically motivated.
Al Mayadeen
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Mayadeen
Russia warns NATO plans to turn Moldova into military foothold
Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has sounded the alarm over NATO's alleged plot to militarize Moldova and use it as a springboard for aggression against Russia. According to a statement published by RIA Novosti on Monday, Brussels has already made the decision to turn Moldova into a forward-operating base on the alliance's eastern frontier, taking advantage of growing instability in the region caused by Western involvement in Ukraine. "According to the information received by the intelligence service, NATO is actively preparing to involve Moldova in a possible armed conflict with Russia," the SVR said. "A decision has been taken in Brussels to transform this country into the alliance's frontline foothold on the eastern flank, taking into account Russian armed forces' advance in Ukraine." The SVR warned that NATO is exploiting Moldova's territory to facilitate rapid troop deployment near Russian borders and is imposing foreign military doctrines through newly built training centers. As the Western alliance intensifies its encroachment, voices within Moldova are rising to challenge this path. Ilan Shor, leader of the Victory (Pobeda) bloc, offered a counter-vision rooted in national sovereignty and historical ties with Moscow. "Pobeda offers a clear and transparent program: for the Union State with Russia; for trade and economic cooperation with the EAEU countries; for cheap gas and fair prices; for the preservation of national identity and sovereignty," Shor said on Telegram. Shor stressed that the bloc has the backing of hundreds of thousands of citizens and vowed to "fight for the right to represent a free Moldova in parliament." The West's efforts to pull Moldova into its orbit have long been viewed in Moscow as a violation of the country's constitutional neutrality and an effort to destabilize the region under the pretext of "democracy promotion." Moldova's current pro-EU administration, led by Maia Sandu, has taken numerous steps to integrate with NATO and the EU, while silencing opposition voices and arresting political rivals under the guise of fighting "Russian influence." Read more: Moldovan socialists accuse President of authoritarianism
