U.S. sanctions Russia-backed individuals over Moldovan destabilization protests

WASHINGTON - The U.S. sanctioned a group of Russian-intelligence linked individuals Monday for their role in allegedly helping the Kremlin destabilize Moldova's democratically-elected, pro-Western government through protests in the Moldovan capital earlier this year.

The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated seven members of a group linked to sanctioned Moldovan oligarch, Ilan Shor, who fled Moldova in 2019 to evade a string of corruption charges and has since lived in Israel, where he was born. Shor, 36, is also the leader of Moldova's Moscow-friendly Shor Party, which has held recurring anti-government protests since last fall.

The protesters demanded that the government fully subsidize citizens' winter energy bills amid a cost-of-living crisis and "not involve the country in war." They also called for Moldovan President Maia Sandu to step down.

"These actors are a part of Russia's global information operations that have also targeted the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and countries in the Balkans," said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement Monday. "The goal of these destabilizing operations is to weaken support for democratic governments and principles."

A candidate for membership of the European Union since last June, Moldova - which was part of the Soviet Union until 1991 - has for years been a geopolitical battleground between Moscow and the West.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Moldova's neighbor, the country of 2.6 million people has been beleaguered by problems. These range from an acute energy crisis after Moscow reduced gas supplies, to rampant inflation, to errant missiles from the war entering its airspace.

In February, President Sandu alleged that Moscow was plotting to use the protests as a basis to foment unrest, with the ultimate aim of toppling her government. While Moscow denied those charges, U.S. intelligence officials later expressed similar concerns.

In March, Moldovan police also said they foiled a plot by groups of Russia-backed actors who were trained to cause mass unrest during a protest.

Last month, a pro-European rally was held in Moldova's capital, Chisinau, where tens of thousands converged to express their support for the government, and the country's path toward the EU. Moldova last week also became the center of European diplomacy as it hosted a major summit designed to quell regional conflicts and to shore up Europe's unity in the face of Russia's war.

The U.S. embassy in Moldova reacted to Monday's sanctions by saying in a statement that "Moldova's future is in Europe," adding: "Unfortunately, there are outside forces that do not respect the choices the Moldova people have freely made."

The U.S. sanctioned Shor last fall, claiming that he worked with "corrupt oligarchs and Moscow-based entities to create political unrest in Moldova," and to undermine the country's bid to join the European Union. The U.K. also added Shor to a sanctions list in December.

Shor was sentenced in absentia in April to 15 years in jail for his role in the case of $1 billion that went missing from Moldovan banks in 2014, which severely weakened the country.

In October, the Treasury also sanctioned Yuriy Igorevich Gudilin, Olga Yurievna Grak, and Leonid Mikhailovich Gonin for attempting to influence the outcome of Moldova's elections.

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McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania