\n<\/p>\n
CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) \u2014 The leader of Moldova\u2019s pro-European ruling party is blunt about the stakes in Sunday\u2019s tense parliamentary election: a continued path toward the European Union<\/a> or a country brought back under Russia\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n \u201cThe results of these elections will define the country\u2019s future not just for the next four years, but for many, many years ahead,\u201d Igor Grosu, the president of the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity, or PAS, told The Associated Press on Thursday in the capital, Chisinau.<\/p>\n The party he leads has held a strong parliamentary majority since 2021, but risks losing it in Sunday\u2019s vote to elect a new 101-seat legislature, with no other viable pro-European alternatives on the ballot but several Russia-friendly ones.<\/p>\n Grosu, who is also the speaker of parliament, said Sunday\u2019s vote is no longer just a choice between East and West<\/a>, but a choice between peace and war. \u201cPeace means the EU, and war means Russia,” he said. \u201cThings have become very stark, very simplified.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese are existential elections, at a crossroads,\u201d he added. “There\u2019s no middle path, no middle option.\u201d<\/p>\n Allegations of Russian interference<\/p>\n The outcome of Sunday\u2019s high-stakes election could at least in part depend on how effective Russia\u2019s alleged \u201chybrid war\u201d to undermine support for PAS has been in favor of political forces that would slow down or potentially derail Moldova\u2019s EU path.<\/p>\n \u201cWe understand this, our opponents understand this, and by opponents, I don\u2019t just mean internal ones,\u201d Grosu said. \u201cI mean the Russian Federation and all the criminals and propagandists gathered around it \u2026 The stakes are very high.\u201d<\/p>\n Grosu’s party has campaigned on a pledge to continue Moldova\u2019s path toward EU membership by signing an accession treaty by 2028, doubling incomes, modernizing infrastructure, and fighting corruption.<\/p>\n The PAS leader\u2019s comments come a day after Moldova\u2019s Prime Minister Dorin Recean warned that Russia is spending hundreds of millions of euros<\/a> to \u201ctake power in Chisinau\u201d to affect the outcome of Sunday\u2019s vote, describing it as a \u201csiege on our country.\u201d<\/p>\n The alleged schemes include a large-scale vote-buying operation, more than 1,000 cyberattacks on critical government infrastructure so far this year, a plan to incite riots around Sunday\u2019s election and a sprawling disinformation campaign online<\/a> to sway voters.<\/p>\n Moscow has repeatedly denied meddling in Moldova. In a statement Thursday, Russia\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed allegations of Russian interference in Moldova\u2019s elections as \u201canti-Russian\u201d and \u201cunsubstantiated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe see that Moldovan officials\u2019 Russophobic attacks are neither understood nor supported by the Moldovan people,\u201d said spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.<\/p>\n Moldovan authorities have intensified their crackdown in recent months. This week, 74 people were detained during 250 raids<\/a> as part of an investigation into an alleged Russia-backed plan to incite mass riots and destabilize the country<\/a>. One was detained over the financing of a political party<\/a> allegedly linked to Russia through cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n UK warns of Russian interference<\/p>\n On Thursday, Britain\u2019s Defense Ministry also issued a statement saying that \u201cRussia is almost certainly conducting an extensive interference campaign\u201d in Moldova ahead of the election.<\/p>\n \u201cShould the ruling party win a majority of seats in the election, Russian-backed information actors will almost certainly promote narratives undermining the integrity of the election,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n Sunday\u2019s vote will also be held less than a year after Moldovans voted narrowly in favor of securing the country\u2019s EU path, the same day pro-Western President Maia Sandu won a second term in a presidential vote. But those votes were also overshadowed by widespread claims of Russian interference<\/a> and a massive vote-buying scheme, which Moscow denied.<\/p>\n Grosu says that Moldovan authorities are better prepared for Sunday\u2019s vote to counter the alleged interference campaign, but that it is an uphill battle.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, Russia has enormous resources: financial, human, logistical, and intelligence that it uses,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I believe in the determination and mobilization spirit of Moldovans, at home and in the diaspora.\u201d<\/p>\n Opposition wants to \u2018normalize\u2019 Russia ties<\/p>\n A key opponent of PAS in Sunday\u2019s election is the Russia-friendly Patriotic Electoral Bloc, or BEP, a grouping of four political parties. The bloc has campaigned on promising good relations with the EU and \u201cnormalizing\u201d ties with Russia, “permanent neutrality” and a \u201cstate that serves the people, not officials.\u201d<\/p>\n On Thursday, the Chisinau Court of Appeal granted a request from the justice ministry to restrict the Heart of Moldova party’s activities for 12 months, which was part of the BEP. The court’s decision came after searches earlier this month on party members that led to allegations of voter bribery, illegal party financing, and money laundering.<\/p>\n Irina Vlah, leader of the Heart of Moldova, called the move a \u201cblatant political ploy\u201d to allegedly silence her party.<\/p>\n \u201cFor four weeks straight, we\u2019ve been subjected to attacks \u2014 vile, dirty, cynical,\u201d she wrote on Facebook. \u201cBut if PAS is hoping to intimidate or break us, they\u2019re sorely mistaken.\u201d<\/p>\n It is unclear whether the decision can be appealed or how it will affect the election.<\/p>\n The court’s decision came the same day Vlah was banned from entering Poland, Latvia, and Estonia.<\/p>\n Poland\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the five-year ban was for \u201chelping the Russian Federation interfere in the preparations for the parliamentary elections.\u201d<\/p>\n ____<\/p>\n Katie Marie Davies contributed to this report from Manchester, U.K.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n