Tiền mặt, chuyển tiền lậu và các cuộc biểu tình được trả tiền: Làm thế nào một kẻ lừa đảo chiếm giữ một vùng dân tộc thiểu số

giờ thành lập "nội các" ở vùng Gagauzia (nằm trong Moldova) 140.000 người dân toàn những người Chính thống giáo ủng hộ Nga...

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Bundles of cash (những gói tiền mặt) arriving on flights from Russia via Armenia provided an early sign of mischief (mối nguy hại) in a tiny Eastern European enclave (vùng đất bị bao quanh bởi nhiều vùng đất khác). Then came a wave of noisy street demonstrations (biểu tình) featuring destitute pensioners (người hưu trí nghèo khổ) paid to chant (hô vang) for the removal of their country’s pro-Western president.

But events in that enclave, Gagauzia, in the Republic of Moldova, took their most bizarre turn (bước ngoặt kỳ lạ) this summer when — at an outdoor meeting of officials and journalists next to a statue of Lenin — a fugitive convicted criminal (tên tội phạm bị kết án đang chạy trốn) announced the members of a new regional government.

They were, the fugitive fraudster (kẻ lừa đảo đang chạy trốn) declared while speaking by video link from Israel, a “dream team.” (đội hình trong mơ)

Less than a decade after Moldova’s financial system almost collapsed following the theft of nearly $1 billion from major banks, the architect of that catastrophe (thảm họa), the Israeli-born Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor, had somehow seized an entire region.

Worse still, lamented Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, Mr. Shor, who was convicted in 2017 for his role in ransacking (cướp phá, cướp bóc) Moldova’s banking system, was working in the interests of Russia, meaning that Gagauzia had “fallen into the hands of pro-Russian criminal groups.”

...But the enclave, with around 140,000 people, mostly members of a small Turkic community of Orthodox Christians, remained out of step (không hòa nhập) with the rest of the country.

Comrat, Gagauzia’s capital, kept Soviet statues and street names honoring Soviet-era politicians and soldiers. Most residents watch Russian state television, prohibited in other parts of Moldova, which is predominantly ethnic Romanian and determined to join the European Union.

Now, the war next door in Ukraine, which many in Gagauzia want Russia to win, is intensifying longstanding frictions (xích mích) between the region and the central government in Chisinau.