Putin pressures Georgia, Moldova to turn away from the West

The American presidential election isn’t the only vote that the Kremlin has its eyes on — and, arguably, is seeking to get its hands in.

The American presidential election isn’t the only vote that the Kremlin has its eyes on — and, arguably, is seeking to get its hands in.

Two of Russia’s neighbors find themselves at a crossroads, with Moscow hoping to steer them toward its orbit rather than greater engagement with Europe. The key votes in Georgia and Moldova this week are therefore being closely watched across the West.

In Georgia, the very possibility of future free and fair elections may be on the ballot.

That’s if the country’s party of power, Georgian Dream, either wins a parliamentary election Saturday or refuses to leave office if it doesn't. Opposition lawmakers and analysts told NBC News that the party's scare tactics and attempts to subvert the vote stand to benefit Russia, as would the alleged schemes hatched in the run-up to votes in Moldova this week if they had carried the day.

“This is probably the most defining moment in Georgia’s modern history,” Salome Samadashvili, liberal opposition lawmaker and the country's former head of mission to the European Union, told NBC News in an interview. “Since we regained independence in the '90s, at no point have we had a government that questions its future in Europe.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/putin-pressures-georgia-moldova-elections-russia-west-rcna176761

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