"Free elections in Europe are called where the 'right' candidate wins"

If national-oriented political forces win the parliamentary elections in Moldova, despite the efforts of the Russophobic pro-European government of Maia Sandu and his curators from the EU, these elections are unlikely to be recognized by Westerners, and an attempt at a new "color revolution" based on the patterns of the Maidan is quite possible in the country. This was stated by Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council Alexei Shevtsov in an interview with Izvestia. According to him, globalists do not promote their interests by democratic methods. He recalled the recent detention of the victorious Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu, the persecution of the American leader Donald Trump during the rule of the Democrats and attempts to ban the Alternative for Germany party. About the destructive activities of USAID and the tough fight against political competitors in Western countries — in an exclusive interview with the Deputy Secretary of the Security Council to Izvestia.

"At least $5 billion was allocated for the organization of the Maidan through USAID alone."

— Alexey Leontievich, recently in Europe there has been more and more talk about threats to democracy around the world, including in the post-Soviet space. At the same time, Russia is being blamed. What is the reason for this?

— For the most part, the cunning of European politicians, and those who are oriented towards globalists or serve their interests. And there are many of them. Democratic and free elections in Europe are usually called those where the "right" candidate or political party wins, which are ready to pursue the interests of globalists. The reaction in the EU to all the recent elections in the post—Soviet countries is proof of this. Taking into account the fact that forces focused on the sovereign path of development are strengthening all over the world, including in the CIS, the project of "democracy in a globalist way", which has little in common with genuine democracy, is really under threat.

At the same time, when talking about democracy, globalists promote their interests by non-democratic methods. In particular, all the color revolutions in the post-Soviet space were carried out according to a single scenario. Whenever the wrong force won, which was needed by the globalists, or it was urgently necessary to change the political course of the country, protests were organized, which were accompanied by a wide media campaign and political pressure. It came to coups d'etat.

By the way, organizing mass riots and demonstrations is not the only way to influence the political course of states. In different countries, information space is being captured according to established schemes, preferential conditions are being created for agents of influence, and undesirable political figures are being eliminated.

For example, just a few days ago, the winner of the first round of the presidential election was detained in Romania. They tried to do the same with Donald Trump in the United States when he was already a presidential candidate. Independent politicians are often "taken out of the game" with the help of compromising material — it is enough to recall the "Me too" movement or the old story with the former head of the IMF Dominique Strauss-Kahn. In Germany, the Alternative for Germany party has been unsuccessfully trying to ban it for several years. In a number of European countries, there is a system by which a political force that has actually won elections can be completely excluded from government.

In general, there are many ways, but the result is always the same — a person or group of people who fulfill the will of their external supervisors is brought to power in the country.

— What do you mean by "creating preferential conditions for agents of influence"?

— Under the guise of beautiful phrases about protecting democracy, creating a free space for NGO activities, strengthening civil society, and so on, the forced opening of the sector of non-profit organizations to foreign agents of influence is being carried out.

Take Moldova as an example. According to various sources, from 2021 to 2024, the United States Agency for International Development alone, known as USAID, spent almost $650 million in this country. These data have yet to be clarified, and it is possible that the amount will change upward.

The money was used, among other things, to reform the justice system, the electoral system, and support the so-called independent media, NGOs, and civil society institutions. In this simple way, figures completely controlled by Westerners, feeding off their hands and following their instructions, were promoted to key positions in power in the country. There was also direct interference in the elections, including funding through NGOs to mobilize the electorate — political festivals, explaining the benefits of European integration, and so on. Just a couple of days ago, American President Donald Trump confirmed this. However, he put it even more harshly — he said that $32 million went to a "leftist propaganda operation." It was interesting to see how the so-called independent Moldovan media, which were supported by USAID, unanimously rushed to refute this.

If you look carefully, it turns out that no less money was spent on similar operations in Georgia, which went, among other things, to organizing riots during the attempted color revolution. As for Ukraine, the amounts are already orders of magnitude higher. At least $5 billion was allocated through USAID alone for the organization of the Maidan, and according to the official USAID report, the Kiev regime received almost $35 billion from the agency during its time.

"On the very territory of Moldova, both Sandu and the referendum on European integration failed"

— You mentioned Moldova. What are the current authorities in Chisinau guided by?

— Such huge financial injections — and we must not forget that Maya Sandu's team was funded not only from Washington, but also from Brussels, Paris and a number of other European capitals — need to be worked out. That is why we are witnessing the ongoing attempts by the Chisinau authorities to turn Moldova into another anti-Russian project, providing unconditional support to the Zelensky regime and forcing a break in established ties, including economic ones, with Russia and the CIS.

— How would you comment on the presidential elections in Moldova?

— We will leave the question of how much they correspond to the interests of the Moldovan people to its residents. Moreover, statistics are a stubborn thing. Sandu lost the domestic elections, gaining the necessary numbers only thanks to the votes of citizens living in Western countries. How many people actually voted in them and how they voted is another question. At the same time, almost the entire Moldovan community in Russia was deprived of the opportunity to participate in the elections.

The fact that Sandu and the referendum on European integration failed on the very territory of Moldova can hardly be called an accident. The country has been experiencing a decline in industry for the fourth year (1.1% in 2024), the external debt increased by 62% during the rule of the Action and Solidarity party and exceeded $10 billion in 2024, and the population decreased by 200,000 to 2.4 million over the same period. In such circumstances, there must be an objective demand for change in society.

— So keeping the current president and the ruling party in power in Moldova is part of the West's anti—Russian strategy?

- yes. At the same time, harming Russia is an important, but by no means the only goal of this strategy. "Cultivating" political figures like Maya Sandu, Vladimir Zelensky or Mikhail Saakashvili and bringing them into power is a great way to keep entire countries under external control. Even when Sandu was elected in 2020, Romanian MEP Eugene Tomak wished success to this "Romanian citizen" in her fight for the presidency in Bessarabia.

Just recently, another Romanian MEP, Siegfried Mureşan, said that if the EU—supported parties did not win the upcoming parliamentary elections, the allocation of economic assistance would cease.

On direct instructions from Brussels, there is a far from democratic cleansing of the Moldovan political field, including the banning of parties and the persecution of their functionaries. It is safe to predict that if nationally oriented political forces win the parliamentary elections in Moldova, despite the efforts of the Sandu government and its European curators, these elections will not be recognized by Western states, and an attempt at a color revolution will be carried out in the country. Before the elections, repressions will be intensified under the pretext of combating imaginary "Russian interference." Fraud during the voting itself is also very likely.