{"id":167160,"date":"2024-11-03T12:36:16","date_gmt":"2024-11-03T12:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/03\/massive-election-interference-by-russia-moldovan-officials-say-in-decisive-presidential-vote\/"},"modified":"2024-11-03T12:36:17","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T12:36:17","slug":"massive-election-interference-by-russia-moldovan-officials-say-in-decisive-presidential-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/03\/massive-election-interference-by-russia-moldovan-officials-say-in-decisive-presidential-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Massive&#8217; election interference by Russia, Moldovan officials say in decisive presidential vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"432\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/10\/768x432\/skynews-moldova-map_6723274.jpg?20241021121544&amp;resize=768,432&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"&#8216;Massive&#8217; election interference by Russia, Moldovan officials say in decisive presidential vote\" title=\"&#8216;Massive&#8217; election interference by Russia, Moldovan officials say in decisive presidential vote\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-component-name=\"ui-article-body\" data-highlight-intro=\"true\">\n<p>Moldovan authorities are seeing &#8220;massive interference&#8221; by Russia in the country&#8217;s runoff vote for the presidency, an official has said. <\/p>\n<p>The incumbent president&#8217;s national security adviser Stanislav Secrieru described it as &#8220;an effort with high potential to distort the outcome&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Moldova is voting in a presidential election which could determine the country&#8217;s future as a nation bidding to join the EU or getting closer to Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Pro-Western incumbent Maia Sandu is facing a second and final round against Alexandr Stoianoglo, a former prosecutor general backed by the pro-Russian Socialist Party.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Sandu has been championing Moldova&#8217;s effort to join the EU by 2030, while Mr Stoianoglo said that as president he too would back EU integration but also develop ties with Russia in the national interest.<\/p>\n<p>He has vowed to try to revive cheap Russian gas supplies and said he would meet with Russian President <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/topic\/vladimir-putin-5972\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vladimir Putin<\/a><\/strong> if Moldovans wanted it.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-article-image\">\n<figure class=\"sdc-article-image__figure\">\n<div class=\"sdc-article-image__wrapper\" data-aspect-ratio=\"16\/9\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the first round held on 20 October, Ms Sandu obtained 42% of the ballot but failed to win an outright majority.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Stoianoglo outperformed polls in the first round with almost 26% of the vote.<\/p>\n<p>Moldova, an eastern European country of three million people, narrowly voted for closer ties to the European Union in <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/moldova-narrowly-votes-for-closer-european-union-ties-in-knife-edge-referendum-13237766\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a referendum last month<\/a><\/strong> which was dominated by claims of Russian interference.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-site-video callfn\" data-account-id=\"6058004172001\" data-amp-iframe-embed=\"\" data-asset-id=\"91cf2fa7-15df-4b93-b841-2a913ee86917\" data-asset-path=\"\" data-asset-version=\"\" data-autoplay=\"false\" data-auth-config=\"\" data-caption=\"'Criminal groups bribed Moldovan voters'\" data-clip-type=\"\" data-component-name=\"sdc-site-video\" data-competition=\"\" data-copy-url-text=\"URL copied to clipboard\" data-fn=\"sdc-site-video\" data-id=\"id_91cf2fa7-15df-4b93-b841-2a913ee86917\" data-is-live-stream=\"false\" data-lite=\"true\" data-options=\"\" data-originator-id=\"51\" data-originator-handle=\"brightcove-news-gb\" data-package-name=\"\" data-provider=\"brightcove\" data-player-id=\"RC9PQUaJ6\" data-playsinline=\"\" data-sensitive=\"false\" data-sdc-id=\"6723417\" data-sdc-video-id=\"91cf2fa7-15df-4b93-b841-2a913ee86917\" data-sport-category=\"\" data-state=\"loading\" data-token-state=\"none\" data-video-ad-unit=\"\" data-video-blacklisted-originator-ids=\"\" data-video-id=\"ref:91cf2fa7-15df-4b93-b841-2a913ee86917\" data-video-type=\"\" data-auto-pause-on-not-visible=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" data-closed-captions-position=\"middle-third\" data-show-closed-captions=\"true\" data-show-pip=\"true\" data-show-live-stream-scrubber=\"true\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-video__inner\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-video__content\" data-role=\"bridge-controller\" style=\"padding-bottom: calc(100% \/ ());\">\n<p class=\"sdc-site-video__accessibility-message\" data-role=\"accessibility-message\">Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n<p>              <span aria-hidden=\"true\" data-role=\"poster\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster\"><br \/>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/10\/768x432\/skynews-moldova-president_6723421.jpg?20241021154054\" alt=\"Moldova's incumbent President and presidential candidate Maia Sandu attends a press conference in Chisinau, Moldova October 21, 2024. REUTERS\/Vladislav Culiomza\" srcset=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster-img\"\/><br \/>\n              <span class=\"sdc-site-video__loader\"\/><br \/>\n                <span class=\"sdc-site-video__time\">1:18<\/span><br \/>\n              <\/span><\/p>\n<p>              <video id=\"id_91cf2fa7-15df-4b93-b841-2a913ee86917\" data-embed=\"default\" data-application-id=\"\" class=\"video-js sdc-site-video__tag\" controls=\"\" playsinline=\"\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"sdc-site-video__caption ui-media-caption\">\n<p>              <span class=\"ui-media-caption__caption-text\" data-role=\"caption-text\">&#8216;Criminal groups bribed Moldovan voters&#8217;<\/span><br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A European Union spokesman claimed at the time there had been &#8220;unprecedented intimidation and foreign interference by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/topic\/russia-5803\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Russia<\/a><\/strong> and its proxies&#8221; as Ms Sandu <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/moldova-president-maia-sandu-accuses-foreign-forces-of-voter-fraud-13238054\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">accused groups &#8220;working together with foreign forces&#8221; of trying to buy 300,000 votes<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more:<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/kemi-badenoch-profile-apparent-favourite-to-take-over-tory-party-and-her-combative-past-13238692\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Combative past of new Tory leader<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/queen-elizabeth-ii-will-appear-in-paddington-3-13246536\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Queen Elizabeth II will appear in Paddington 3<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-article-strapline sdc-article-strapline--default-layout\" data-component-name=\"sdc-article-strapline\">\n<div class=\"sdc-article-strapline__link\">\n<div class=\"sdc-article-strapline__image-wrap\">\n                <picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/03\/320x180\/skynews-gfxwhatsapppromo-gfxwhatsapp_6490206.png 320w, https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/03\/640x380\/skynews-gfxwhatsapppromo-gfxwhatsapp_6490206.png 640w\" media=\"(max-width: 480px)\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/03\/256x256\/skynews-gfxwhatsapppromo-gfxwhatsapp_6490206.png 256w, https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/03\/512x512\/skynews-gfxwhatsapppromo-gfxwhatsapp_6490206.png 512w\" media=\"(min-width: 481px)\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/03\/512x512\/skynews-gfxwhatsapppromo-gfxwhatsapp_6490206.png\" alt=\"Follow Sky News on WhatsApp\" class=\"sdc-article-strapline__image\"\/><br \/>\n                <\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-strapline__body\">\n                <span class=\"sdc-article-strapline__title\">Follow Sky News on WhatsApp<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"sdc-article-strapline__text\">Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Va868Fv8vd1UsF99tP1u\" class=\"sdc-article-strapline__button\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tap here<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>During the campaign, Ms Sandu has portrayed Mr Stoianoglo as the Kremlin&#8217;s man and a political Trojan horse.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Stoianoglo says that is untrue and that she has failed to look out for the interests of ordinary Moldovans.<\/p>\n<p>Moscow has said her government is &#8220;Russophobic&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The EU is expected to watch the Moldovan election closely as it comes a week after Georgia, another ex-Soviet state hoping to join the 27-member state bloc, re-elected a ruling party seen as increasingly pro-Russian.<\/p>\n<p>The president <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/our-election-was-stolen-and-russians-were-behind-it-georgia-president-salome-zourabichvili-claims-13243669\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told Sky News that the election was &#8220;stolen&#8221;<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/massive-election-interference-by-russia-moldovan-officials-say-in-decisive-presidential-vote-13247385\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Moldovan authorities are seeing &#8220;massive interference&#8221; by Russia in the country&#8217;s runoff vote for the presidency, an official has said. The incumbent president&#8217;s national security adviser Stanislav Secrieru described it as &#8220;an effort with high potential to distort the outcome&#8221;. Moldova is voting in a presidential election which could determine the country&#8217;s future as a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/10\/768x432\/skynews-moldova-map_6723274.jpg?20241021121544","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52873,50,11477,5007,129510,120,212,202,901],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167160"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167162,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167160\/revisions\/167162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}