Russia accuses US of preparing revolution in Moldova

Russia on Tuesday accused the United States of preparing a “revolution” in the ex-Soviet state of Moldova ahead of a November election, blaming Washington for similar interference in Belarus and Kyrgyzstan.

“Now we are seeing clearly that the Americans are preparing a ‘revolution’ scenario in Moldova”, where pro-Moscow President Igor Dodon is seeking re-election in the November ballot, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin said in a statement.

Russia has been repeatedly accused of seeking to disrupt the 2016 US elections that brought Donald Trump to power. The US said Monday six members of Russian military intelligence agency had been charged over global cyber attacks, including an attempt to disrupt the 2017 French elections.

In a rare public statement, Naryshkin, who heads the service that inherited the foreign espionage work of the KGB, accused the US of “crude” attempts to influence the post-election situation in recent weeks in post-Soviet states “friendly to Moscow” like Belarus and Kyrgyzstan.

In Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko has been under intense pressure from street protests since August elections he claimed to have won but the opposition says were rigged.

And in Kyrgyzstan, pro-Moscow president Sooronbay Jeenbekov stepped down last week following street protests that erupted in the wake of disputed parliamentary polls.

Despite its small size, politics in Moldova have long been hugely sensitive, with the country divided between those favouring closer ties with the EU, in particular its neighbour NATO member Romania, and those who cling to Soviet-era relations with Moscow.

Naryshkin alleged that Washington believed that Dodon was on course to win the polls and was inciting the Moldova opposition to take to the streets after the vote to denounce its validity and demand a re-run.

He alleged that fake news was being placed in local media and US officials were persuading Moldovan security forces to change sides in the event of protests.

“Such a concept as the sovereignty of a foreign state clearly fades into the background,” he was quoted as saying.

Dodon won the presidency in 2016 after beating a pro-European rival and will be seeking a new four-year mandate in the November 1 polls.