Bomb threats were received from 14 locations along the border between Moldova and Transnistria, where citizens of the country are voting in the country's parliamentary elections. Moldovan police spokeswoman Diana Fetko told reporters today, TASS reports, quoted by FOCUS.
"Anonymous bomb threats were received at 14 locations in the security zone [of division]. "Operational response teams are acting in accordance with instructions," she said.
The country's foreign ministry also reported that bomb threats had been received at several polling stations abroad.
These included polling stations in Genoa and Rome in Italy, Bucharest in Romania, Asheville in the US state of North Carolina, Alicante in Spain and Brussels in Belgium.
"The bomb threats began exactly as authorities had warned they would happen earlier - as part of the Russian Federation's interference in the electoral process," the ministry said, adding that it was prepared and working with its partners to ensure that these incidents would not affect the vote.
Moldova's electoral infrastructure suffered several cyberattacks on Saturday and Sunday, causing several thousand Moldovan websites to stop working. This was announced today by Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recan on Facebook.
According to Recan, "several attempts at cyberattack" have been made. against infrastructure related to the electoral process in Moldova - in particular the Central Electoral Commission and several polling stations abroad.
"All attacks were detected and neutralized in real time, without affecting the electoral process", he added.
The Moldovan prime minister said that the Information Technology and Cybersecurity Service (STICS) was forced to block the host.md platform due to the large-scale cyberattack, which "led to the inoperability of around 4,000 websites".
"The attacks were organized simultaneously with the aim of overloading the STISC network, which serves the CEC and other electoral infrastructure", Recan stressed.
The parliamentary elections in Moldova on September 28 are considered decisive for the future of the country.
Romanian President Nicuşor Dan called today's parliamentary elections in Moldova "historic“ and called on Moldovan citizens in Romania to go to the polls, Digi24 reports.
Nikușor Dan said on Sunday that today's parliamentary elections in Moldova are of historic importance for Moldova and that this time participation in the vote is extremely important.
"Politicians often say that your vote is important... But this time it is really, really important", said the Romanian president, calling on Moldovan citizens in Romania to exercise their right to vote and ask their friends to do so.
"This is a truly historic day", Dan stressed.
When asked about his predictions for the results of the elections in Moldova - whether the country will maintain its pro-European course or start to get closer to Russia, and what the consequences of this will be for Romania, Dan answered evasively.
"I am the president of Romania, I respect the statehood of Moldova and I do not want my statements to be interpreted in any way. Of course, I have an opinion on this issue – but at the moment this is all I can say. It is very, very important that people go to vote“, he said.
We recall that the parliamentary elections in Moldova on September 28 are considered decisive for the future of the country. Polling stations in Moldova opened at 7:00 and will work until 21:00. Also, these elections will be the first time that the option of voting by mail will be available to Moldovan citizens in 10 countries.
President Maia Sandu and the government have warned earlier that they expect large-scale attempts by Russia to influence the elections in order to bring to power “friendly” forces and disrupt Moldova's European integration.