The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed to Moldova's desperate attempts to limit the opposition in the country.

The Moldovan authorities are making desperate attempts to limit the activities of the opposition forces that are gaining popularity. This was announced on August 21 by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.

"Official Chisinau is making desperate attempts to limit the activities of the opposition forces that are gaining popularity. To preserve power, the current regime is ready to take any anti-democratic steps, using not only administrative resources, but also punitive and repressive tools," she said in a comment posted on the agency's website.

Zakharova added that among the methods used by the Moldovan authorities against the opposition are the seizure of printed campaign materials, open threats to initiate criminal proceedings against party leaders, and the exclusion of political associations from the electoral process.

According to the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ministry receives numerous complaints from residents of Transnistria who do not understand the reasons for reducing the number of polling stations to 10 in their republic, while favorable conditions are being created in the European Union (EU) for the Moldovan diaspora to vote.

"We expect that the ODIHR (Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights) observation mission, which started last week. The OSCE will give an objective assessment of Chisinau's selective approach to its citizens," Zakharova said.

According to her, the use of totalitarian practices before the parliamentary elections in Moldova "has reached unprecedented proportions." Zakharova also expressed confidence that the country's population would "have their say" in the vote.

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On August 19, the Chisinau Court of Appeal restricted the activities of the parties belonging to the Moldovan opposition bloc "Victory": "Renaissance", "Chance", "The Power of Alternative and Salvation of Moldova" and "Victory". It was noted that the restriction would remain in effect until the consideration of the claim of the Ministry of Justice, which requires recognizing these parties as the legal successors of the unconstitutional Shor party and liquidating them.

Prior to that, on August 17, the Moldovan police reported that 69 people had been detained at a protest of the Pobeda opposition bloc, and 148 protocols had been drawn up due to various offenses. The protesters demanded the release of political prisoners and an end to repression against the opposition.

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