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By Alexander Tanas
CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova expelled three Russian diplomats on Monday after it accused Russia's embassy of engineering the escape of a pro-Kremlin lawmaker to prevent him being jailed over illegal political funding.
The case of Alexander Nesterovschii, who could not be reached for comment, is the latest in which Moldova's pro-European government has accused Russia of meddling in its domestic politics. Moscow denies the accusation.
"Interference by the Russian Federation with the judicial system of the Republic of Moldova is unacceptable. Imagine that the Republic of Moldova interfered with justice in the Russian Federation," President Maia Sandu told Radio Moldova.
The Russian ambassador to Moldova, Oleg Ozerov, said the accusation of meddling was unfounded and unsubstantiated.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said Moscow would retaliate for the expulsions.
Moldova's security service released a video which it said showed Nesterovschii entering the Russian embassy in Chisinau, the Moldovan capital, on March 18, a day before a court sentenced him in absentia to 12 years in jail.
He was found guilty of illegally channelling money to a pro-Russian party associated with fugitive businessman Ilan Shor during local elections in 2023, as well as the 2024 presidential vote and a national referendum on Moldova's aspirations to join the European Union.
Nesterovschii denied the charges, calling them politically motivated.
The security service said that on the day of his sentencing he was driven in a white car with diplomatic plates to the Russian-backed Transdniestria region that broke away from Moldovan control in the early 1990s.
"This type of activity is part of the mechanism of hybrid aggression directed against the Republic of Moldova," Alexandru Musteata, the director of Moldova's Security and Intelligence Service, told a briefing.
EU ASPIRATIONS
The Moldovan government, which aims to take the former Soviet republic into the EU by 2030, has repeatedly accused Russia of meddling and trying to destabilise it.
Moldova is scheduled to hold a parliamentary election this autumn that will be a test of the popularity of the pro-EU government's course.
Moldovan authorities said last Tuesday they had detained Eugenia Gutul, a pro-Russian governor of Moldova's Gagauzia region, made up mainly of ethnic Turks, on charges of illegal political funding as she tried to leave the country. Gutul said the charges were politically motivated.
A court ruling then ordered her to be kept in custody for at least 30 days.
On Monday, Gutul sought U.S. President Donald Trump's "moral and political support" after issuing similar appeals last week to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
A Chisinau court sentenced another lawmaker, Irina Lozovan, to six years in prison on Monday on similar charges. Police say Lozovan, who says the charges are politically motivated, is also hiding from law enforcement.
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas; writing by Yuliia Dysa; editing by Tom Balmforth, Mark Heinrich, Gareth Jones, Ron Popeski and Paul Simao)
