Moldova blocks Telegram channels linked to Shor’s pro-Russian party, police conducts searches

In Moldova, authorities have blocked the Telegram channels of pro-Russian fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, those associated with his political party, and key associates, including the officially elected head of the autonomous region of Gagauzia.

On October 10, users of the messenger saw that it was no longer possible to read posts on these channels; when they accessed them, the inscription “The channel is unavailable because it violated local law” appeared, Newsmaker reports.

This incident affected the channels belonging to Shor, his close associate Marina Tauber, Evgenia Gutsul, the head of the autonomous region of Gagauzia, and several other politicians. The authorities also blocked the Eurasia channel, which belongs to a Shor-affiliated organization, and the Gagauzinfo.MD news Telegram channel.

The official leader of the pro-Russian Chance party, the re-registered and re-branded Shor party, Alexey Lungu, claimed that Meta had blocked his Facebook and Instagram pages the day before, although it’s unclear what warnings Meta had issued.

Earlier, the Cybersecurity Agency of Moldova complained that they had no influence on Telegram and ignored requests to moderate content and block channels that violate the law. 

On October 10, it came to light that an investigation into the financing of the Shor party had resulted in more than a hundred searches of individuals.

In the case of illegal party financing, vote-buying and voter bribery, Moldova announced the detention of three suspects following more than a hundred searches of individuals associated with oligarch Ilan Shor’s party.

The detainees are heads of the party’s territorial organizations. The next 72 hours they will stay in custody.

The investigation revealed that the leaders of territorial organizations belonging to “some parties” received covert funding to plan protests and sway voters.

Over the past two days, the Moldovan police conducted 115 searches in connection with illegal party financing and vote buying, including the party of pro-Russian oligarch Shor.

As a result of the searches, law enforcement published a video containing footage of the evidence.

Last year, the court declared oligarch Ilan Shor’s populist and pro-Russian party, Shor, unconstitutional. After that, it registered again under the name Chance. The EU placed its key politicians on sanctions lists for destabilizing Moldova.

On October 20, Moldova will hold a referendum on joining the European Union. The referendum will coincide with the presidential election, where President Maia Sandu is vying for re-election.