CHISINAU, July 7. /TASS/. Moldovan President Maia Sandu and her ruling Action and Solidarity Party are guilty of unleashing political terror against the opposition, as they are afraid of losing the upcoming September 28 parliamentary elections because of disastrous policies, an opposition lawmaker said.

"The [opposition] Victorie (Victory) bloc held its conference in Moscow not on a whim but because it had to as it is impossible to bring together opposition activists in Moldova amid threats, surveillance, blackmail, and repression," Vadim Fotescu, a Victorie lawmaker, noted, explaining why the bloc chose to hold its conference in Moscow.

"The government fears the people, fears anything different, fears the truth. That is why they unleashed political terror against us. <…> We begin this campaign from Moscow because we can meet here without being afraid of being dispersed by guns or the regime’s pseudo-court," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Victorie held its conference in Moscow on July 6 amid the arrest of Gagauz autonomy head Evghenia Gutsul. The bloc’s leader, Ilan Sor, told the conference that later this week the bloc will officially throw its hat in the ring for this fall’s parliamentary elections this fall, with Gutsul atop its party list at the elections.

Relations between Moldova and Russia began worsening after Maia Sandu and her Party of Action and Solidarity came to power in 2021. An opinion poll conducted by the Intellect Group pollster early this year indicated that 57% of Moldovans did not approve of the government’s anti-Russian policies.