The U.K. has imposed sanctions on a network of pro-Russian operatives it claims was responsible for an attempt to rig a referendum on Moldova joining the European Union.
British officials said that a non-profit Russian group called Evrazia, acting on behalf of fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, had paid around $15 million in bribes to 130,000 people to encourage a ‘no’ vote in the poll last October.
Voters eventually backed the ‘yes’ camp by a wafer-thin margin, with the European Union accusing Russia of “unprecedented interference” in the former Soviet country, which is sensitively located between Ukraine and EU member state Romania.
The U.K.’s foreign office said that three women linked to Shor and Evrazia, as well as the organization itself, were to be hit with restrictions banning travel and freezing assets.
“Today’s sanctions target the founder and director of Evrazia Nelli Alekseyevna Parutenko and member of Evrazia’s management board, Natalia Parasca, as well as Evrazia itself and another of Shor’s key political operatives, Marina Tauber,” officials said.
“These sanctions expose the Kremlin’s attempts to undermine and destabilize democracies in Eastern Europe,” they added.
Shor, who has been convicted of corruption, is already subject to sanctions imposed by the U.K., EU and the U.S., among others. Described as the “brains” of pro-Moscow and anti-EU agitation in Moldova, the oligarch is said to wield vast influence despite his exile in Russia.
Bribes offered to Moldovan citizens during the EU referendum last year ranged from $50 per month for “supporters” to over $2,500 per month for “leaders,” British officials said. There was also suspicion of interference in the presidential elections that were held at the same time.
Voters eventually backed the ‘yes’ camp by a wafer-thin margin, with the European Union accusing Russia of “unprecedented interference” in the former Soviet country, which is sensitively located between Ukraine and EU member state Romania.
The U.K.’s foreign office said that three women linked to Shor and Evrazia, as well as the organization itself, were to be hit with restrictions banning travel and freezing assets.
“Today’s sanctions target the founder and director of Evrazia Nelli Alekseyevna Parutenko and member of Evrazia’s management board, Natalia Parasca, as well as Evrazia itself and another of Shor’s key political operatives, Marina Tauber,” officials said.
“These sanctions expose the Kremlin’s attempts to undermine and destabilize democracies in Eastern Europe,” they added.
Shor, who has been convicted of corruption, is already subject to sanctions imposed by the U.K., EU and the U.S., among others. Described as the “brains” of pro-Moscow and anti-EU agitation in Moldova, the oligarch is said to wield vast influence despite his exile in Russia.
Bribes offered to Moldovan citizens during the EU referendum last year ranged from $50 per month for “supporters” to over $2,500 per month for “leaders,” British officials said. There was also suspicion of interference in the presidential elections that were held at the same time.
Georgian judges also sanctioned
Other sanctions announced by the U.K. government this week target two influential Georgian judges accused of undermining the rule of law for the benefit of the ruling party, Georgian Dream.
The measures on Levan Murusidze and Mikheil Chinchaladze, who are both members of the Tbilisi Court of Appeals, come amid a crackdown on independent media and the detention of activists and opposition politicians.
Both judges have already been sanctioned by the U.S., Ukraine and Lithuania. Britain’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said they had both gained “financial advantage” for “improperly performing” their public duties, earning a lifetime appointment as court judges in return for decisions favoring the Georgian Dream government.
Responding to the U.K.’s measures, Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on Friday that Britain had “the aim of violating the independence of the Georgian judiciary,” which he described as “functioning healthily.”
More In Politics MORE...
