Chisinau, April 23, 2024 (AFP)
Moldovan police seized about $1 million of what they called "illegal political financing" from people returning from a gathering of Moldovan pro-Russian opposition parties in Moscow, the force said on Tuesday.
Moldova frequently accuses the Kremlin of trying to stoke tensions in the former Soviet republic of 2.6 million people.
About 150 Moldovans -- most of them at Chisinau airport -- were searched overnight from Monday to Tuesday, police chief Victor Cernauteanu told reporters. No one searched was detained.
In total, more than 20 million Moldovan lei (about $1 million) was seized in what police described as a "scheme of illegal financing of political parties from dark sources".
Merchandise related to the Moscow event, including mugs, caps, notebooks, and t-shirts, were also seized.
The parties announced the formation of a political bloc called "Victory" at the Moscow event, ahead of Moldovan presidential elections and an EU membership referendum in October.
The country, which lies between Ukraine and Romania, applied to join the EU shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Current EU member states agreed in December to start accession talks.
Leaders of the anti-government bloc denounced the searches as harassment. Lawmaker Irina Lozovan of the pro-Russian Renewal Party described it as a "huge mistake".
The bloc is grouped around the fugitive pro-Russian oligarch, Ilan Shor, who has been convicted in absentia for fraud.
Chisinau has moved to outlaw Shor's opposition party, which it accuses of acting against the country's national interests.
Adrian Balutel, the chief of staff of Moldovan President Maia Sandu, called the politicians gathered at the Moscow event "top servants of the Kremlin regime", in a post on Telegram.
The Prosecutor General office's acting chief Ion Munteanu said the politicians who went to Moscow on Sunday were being examined on suspicion of "betrayal of the motherland".
The offence carries a sentence of up to 20 years in jail.
"From our point of view, this action has the tendency to threaten state security," Munteanu told the PROTV Chisinau television channel.

Sumber : AFP