MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. Moldova’s opposition bloc Victorie will launch a campaign for closer ties with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) ahead of the national referendum of European integration scheduled for October, the bloc’s leader, Ilan Shor said.

"I would like to announce that we have agreed with the Eurasia NGO that some 50,000 Eurasia ambassadors will go to Moldova to explain to each and every Moldovan national what the Eurasian Union is and what European Union is. They will do it not from TV screens where [Moldovan President] Maia Sandu reins, but is reality. Today, I am glad to inform you that we are kicking off a battle for the referendum. They will hold a campaign whereas we will engage in a battle," he told the second Victorie conference in Moscow.

The delegates welcomed these words with applause, chanting Victory.

The Eurasia non-government organization was set up to foster closer business and cultural ties between the post-Soviet countries.

In May 2018, Moldova was granted the observer status in the Eurasian Economic Union at the initiative of its then president, Igor Dodon. But Moldova’s attitude toward the CIS began to sour in 2020 when President Maia Sandu took office and her Party of Action and Solidarity took control of the Moldovan government in 2021. Notably, Sandu has not attended any CIS summits during her tenure. Chisinau only ramped up its anti-CIS rhetoric last year when Foreign Minister Nicolae Popescu announced the formal denunciation of a number of CIS agreements that he described as no longer relevant.

Late in 2023, Sandu announced her plans to run for her second presidential term and suggested that a referendum be organized on the election day so that people could say what they think about the idea of Moldova’s integration into the European Union. These plans were strongly criticized by opposition forces who claim that Sandu wants to use the referendum to improve her and her party’s ratings that are downgrading amid the dire economic crisis and grassroots protests.

The Victorie bloc was set up by Moldova’s opposition parties at a conference in Moscow in April. Evghenia Gutul, head of Moldova’s Gagauz Autonomy, was elected the bloc’s executive secretary and Ilan Shor became head of its executive committee.