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On 28 September, parliamentary elections are set to be held in Moldova, an event Russia is hoping will return Chișinău to its sphere of influence.

Last year's presidential election and the constitutional referendum on Moldova's EU accession were conducted under conditions of unprecedented Russian interference.

It has now come to light that, for the purpose of organising mass unrest, individuals were specially trained in two Balkan countries: Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Moldova's Intelligence and Security Service (SIS) stated that pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor had funded trips for Moldovan citizens to Moscow to receive training in protest tactics.

Some of these "students" were selected for advanced training in the Balkans, specifically in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Serbia, where instructors connected to Wagner and similar private military structures trained them in crowd psychology, weapons handling, making explosive devices and drone operations.

Soon after, information about this Balkan dimension of Russia's hybrid threat to Moldova was confirmed both in Serbia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In Serbia, a real training camp was discovered near the village of Radenka. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, more precisely, in the Republika Srpska entity, a site was found where the theoretical part of the training had taken place, focusing on organising and dispersing demonstrations.

Bosnian security services even arrested a Russian citizen, Aleksandr Bezrukovnyi, on suspicion of organising these training centers.

Bezrukovnyi was detained based on a warrant issued by Polish law enforcement via Interpol. He was wanted in Poland for his involvement in preparing acts of sabotage.

Meanwhile, the investigation into last year’s attempted election-related destabilisation in Moldova is ongoing.

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