However, officials say the pro-Russian BEP and the more opaque Alternativa opposition bloc stand to gain from a campaign of disinformation and bribery orchestrated from Moscow. “Russia is pulling out all the stops to tip this election,” Moldovan National Security Adviser Stanislav Secrieru told POLITICO ahead of the vote. “Police report intel on groups planning unrest in Chișinău starting tonight and during tomorrow’s protest called by the pro-Russian Patriotic bloc,” Secreriu later wrote online. Last year, a referendum on EU membership narrowly passed and liberal President Maia Sandu secured a second term in office despite votes marred by allegations of Kremlin election meddling. In both cases, ballots from the hundreds of thousands of Moldovans living abroad — many in EU countries — were critical in swinging the result.