Moldovan authorities suspect Roman Abramovich of interfering in elections

Alexandru Musteata, Director of the Moldovan Security and Intelligence Service (SIS), has presented a report to the country's parliament on interference efforts detected during this past October’s presidential election campaign and in a nationwide referendum on EU integration. The report, which was published on the SIS website, details the facts of external interference in the electoral process, including illegal financing, propaganda campaigns, and the spreading of disinformation.

In particular, the authorities documented cases of vote-buying, prevented cyberattacks on electoral infrastructure, and uncovered a network that was distributing pro-Kremlin propaganda via Telegram, TikTok, and YouTube.

SIS asserts that an operational center was set up in Moscow — with the support of the Russian authorities — and tasked with compromising the referendum and presidential elections in Moldova. The effort was to be spearheaded by Ilan Shor, a businessman convicted in absentia in Moldova for embezzling one billion dollars from the banking system. Earlier this year, Shor obtained a Russian passport.

The SIS report says that, in 2023, Shor met in France with Roman Abramovich, who offered him support. In particular, SIS asserts that the Victory political bloc, created by Shor to participate in the Moldovan elections, received legal support from Rola Brentlin, whom SIS refers to as Abramovich's personal assistant.

According to Brentlin's LinkedIn page, until January 2022 she worked as a top executive with the English Premier League’s Chelsea Football Club, which was owned by Abramovich at the time. Ties between Brentlin and the Russian oligarch can be traced further: in May of this year, the website of Tel Aviv University reported that Ms. Rola Brentlin had taken part in the opening of a new building of the Center for Nano- and Quantum Science and Technology, the construction of which had been sponsored by Roman Abramovich.

Moldovan journalist Alexandru Cozer wrote on his Facebook page that he had identified links between Shor and “one of Putin's main purses Roman Abramovich” a year ago. It was Abramovich who helped the fugitive Moldovan oligarch to strengthen his position in Russia and gain Putin's favor, the journalist claims.

“Abramovich was also the main financier of the Shor network, through which attempts were made to destabilize Moldova. We are talking about at least tens of millions of euros invested in this network last year,” Cozer wrote, calling on Moldovan authorities to seek international sanctions against Abramovich.

The creation of Shor’s Victory political bloc was announced in April 2024 at the congress of Moldovan politicians in Moscow. This past August, Moldova's CEC rejected the bloc's application to run in the presidential election and to participate in the referendum on EU integration. Despite Russia’s efforts, Moldovan supporters of European integration ultimately won the referendum by a narrow margin, and President Maia Sandu secured re-election for a second term.

Despite his alleged efforts to interfere in international politics on Moscow’s behalf, Europe remains open to Abramovich himself. In 2021, the Russian billionaire obtained a Portuguese passport under a law granting citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews. However, in 2022, a rabbi who facilitated his application was arrested as part of an investigation. Authorities questioned whether Abramovich met the criteria for Sephardic Jewish ancestry, leading to broader scrutiny of similar citizenship applications.

Nevertheless, Abramovich remains a Portuguese citizen — and the wealthiest individual in the country, even as he faces sanctions in many other parts of the world due to his ties to Vladimir Putin.