IPN

Thousands of farmers from the southern part on Moldova arrived in Chisinau to protest on Friday in front of the government building, demanding state aid after a severe drought decimated their crops this year.

Ahead of massive protests scheduled for Sunday, August 26, in the main square of Chisinau, Moldova's ruling Democratic Party, PD, has started an aggressive media campaign, claiming Russia is behind the protests.

The campaign has connected political leaders to prominent figures in civil society in Moldova to the Russian secret service, the FSB, which allegedly is behind the protests.

The Moldovan Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases, PCCOCS, said on Tuesday that it has launched a criminal investigation into allegations of wrongdoing by online charity platform caritate.md.

The claims were made in a report by journalists working for RISE Moldova, a media outlet affiliated to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.