Moldova's Pro-Govt Media Claim Russia is Behind Protests

Ahead of massive protests scheduled for Sunday, August 26, in the main square of Chisinau, Moldova's ruling Democratic Party, PD, has started an aggressive media campaign, claiming Russia is behind the protests.

The campaign has connected political leaders to prominent figures in civil society in Moldova to the Russian secret service, the FSB, which allegedly is behind the protests.

Media have linked this claim to the recent case of the leader of the rights NGO Open Dialog, Ludmila Kozlovzka, who allegedly took funds from companies in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Polish authorities have since banned her from entering EU countries, after putting her name into the Schengen Information System.

Kozlovzka denied the allegations of being a Russian agent in an interview for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, published on Thursday, stating that the allegations against her were made when her husband criticised the ruling party in Poland.

As her NGO in the past invited Moldovan opposition leaders Andrei Nastase and Maia Sandu to Brussels to talk about the human rights in Moldova, the PD-affiliated media have linked the two leaders with alleged FSB activity conducted through this NGO.

PD's leader Vlad Plahotniuc accused Kozlovzka in an interview for IPN news agency on Thursday of making denigratory statements about Moldova in Europe along with opposition leaders Maia Sandu and Andrei Nastase.

PD deputies on Wednesday asked law enforcement and secret service institutions to check Nastase's and Sandu's activities, while Sandu's own Action and Solidarity Party, PAS, has dismissed the allegations - claiming it is the ruling PD that has links to Russia.

"The PD signed an agreement with Vladimir Putin's [United Russia] Party in 2010, as...