Moldovan regional leader jailed for aiding Russian meddling

CHISINAU (Reuters) -A Moldovan court jailed a pro-Kremlin regional leader on Tuesday for seven years for channelling money from Russia to finance a political party that Moldova says is a front for Russian meddling.

Moldova, which will hold a parliamentary election on September 28, has regularly accused Moscow of interfering in domestic politics by stoking pro-Russian sentiments in a subversive campaign to topple its pro-European government.

Moscow denies the accusations of meddling in Moldova, a small former Soviet republic situated between Ukraine and EU and NATO member Romania.

Prosecutors said regional leader Evgenia Gutul had systematically sent undeclared funds into Moldova between 2019-2022 to finance the now-banned party of Ilan Shor, an exiled pro-Russian businessman.

Gutul was also found guilty of taking $2.5 million from an "organised criminal group" to coordinate the party's activities in several Moldovan regions.

Gutul, an opponent of Moldova's current government who has occasionally visited Moscow to meet top officials, had denied wrongdoing. She can appeal her sentence.

"This decision has nothing to do with justice," she said in a statement on Tuesday. "This is a political massacre."

The Kremlin condemned the sentence as politically motivated and accused Moldova of trampling on democracy.

"We see how the opposition is being clamped down in every possible way," said spokesman Dmitri Peskov.

More than 100 people rallied near the court in the Moldovan capital Chisinau on Tuesday in support of Gutul, chanting "Shame" and decrying the government.

Gutul, the leader of Gagauzia, a small autonomous region whose 140,000 residents are mainly ethnic Turks, has been placed on EU and U.S. sanctions lists on suspicion of seeking to destabilise Moldova.

Last year, Moldovan police said Shor had sent $24 million through Russia's Promsvyazbank to pay voters in a presidential election and referendum on joining the EU. Shor, who has previously been found guilty in Moldova of fraud, denies any wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, writing by Yuliia Dysa and Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Gareth Jones)

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