Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman of the Kremlin, has said Russia did not recognise Maia Sandu as President of Moldova after the latest elections there.
Moldova’s pro-Western incumbent Sandu has claimed victory after the closely-fought presidential election on November 3, defeating Alexandr Stoianoglo, her rival backed by the traditionally pro-Russian Socialist Party.
Sandu won with around 55 per cent of the vote but votes from expats in the West proved pivotal.
On November 3, her national security adviser Stanislav Secrieru accused Russia of significant interference in the ballot.
“We’re seeing massive interference by Russia in our electoral process … an effort with high potential to distort the outcome,” Secrieru wrote on X.
Ahead of the election, the Sandu-camp had accused the Russians of bribery in efforts to sway the election outcome.
Russia rejected those accusations and has instead called the vote unfair and undemocratic.
“As for Ms Sandu, you know that she is not, as far as we understand, the president of her country, because in the country itself, the majority of the population did not vote for her. And we are talking about a very, very divided society,” Peskov said.
According to him, Russia could “objectively judge these elections” based on Moldovan citizens who voted from Russia. He added that they “were not given the opportunity to use their vote” so the election results “cannot be considered clean”.
Moldova opened only two polling stations in Russia, both in Moscow. At each of them, 4,999 voters out of 5,000 voters cast their ballots, Ukrainian news site censor.net reported.
Sandu won thanks to overwhelming support from Moldovans voting who live in the West, official results have indicated. Within the country’s borders, she lost by a slim margin of 48.8 per cent versus 51.2 per cent for Stoianoglo.
Russian’s foreign ministry had already dubbed the Moldovan vote “the most undemocratic election campaign in all the years of Moldovan independence”.
Sandu, an ex-World Bank adviser, has been pushing for her country to move away from Moscow and join the European Union in part of a broader pro-Western trajectory.
Western leaders have all welcomed her election.
French President Emmanuel Macron said it represented a “triumph for democracy”.
