Is Russia meddling in Moldova?

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 26 October 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kate Adie presents stories from Moldova, Russia, the US, Cuba and Indonesia.

In Moldova, a knife-edge victory for the Yes vote in the country's referendum on EU membership came as a shock to many. Chisinau and the EU have accused Russia and its proxies of ‘unprecedented’ interference. Alongside the referendum, the country’s pro-Europe president was also running for re-election. Sarah Rainsford was on the border with Transnistria.

Moscow’s push into the Donbas in eastern Ukraine is intensifying, as Russian troops seek to gain control of the whole region. Earlier this year, Ukraine made its own incursion into the Russian border regions. Nick Sturdee has followed the story of some Russian-speaking Ukrainian fighters who are now in Kursk.

Mike Wendling paid a visit to the swing state of Wisconsin as Halloween preparations were underway and found people are not just spooked by scary masks and ghoulish stories – there’s a deeper, palpable anxiety among voters in Wisconsin about dirty campaign tactics, and even the fate of US democracy itself.

In Cuba, the electricity supply often fails when the fuel runs short. They have regular, planned black-outs, but last weekend, the whole of Cuba suffered a complete blackout, as it dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Oscar. Will Grant has been to one village, where living without electricity has become the norm.

Mini the Macaque was taken from the forest in Indonesia, when she was just days old, and sold on to criminals in a global animal torture ring. Mini - and the monkey who was held captive with her - were eventually rescued after a BBC Eye investigation. Rebecca Henschke went along to see them being freed.

Series producer: Serena Tarling Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith Production Coordinator: Katie Morrison

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:04.6	Hello. Today an unexpected phone call takes our correspondent on a virtual
0:11.0	tour of Ukraine's incursion into Russia.
0:15.0	As Americans prepare for Halloween, donning fancy dress and decorating their homes,
0:20.0	our correspondent is in Wisconsin, where he finds finds it not just the children who are spooked.
0:27.0	Cuba has been hit by a nationwide electricity blackout, but for many living without electricity has become the norm.
0:35.0	And in Indonesia, the Makak monkeys once held in captivity and tortured for entertainment by criminals are finally set free. But first to Moldova,
0:47.0	where last weekend a referendum was held to decide whether the former member of the Soviet Union should enshrine plans for EU membership
0:56.5	into its constitution. The knife edge victory for the yes vote came as a shock to many after polls predicted a clear victory.
1:06.0	The Moldovan government in the EU have accused Russia and its proxies of unprecedented interference.
1:13.0	Alongside the referendum, the country's pro-Europe president,
1:17.0	Maya Sandu, was also running for re-election.
1:20.0	She failed to win an outright victory and now faces a runoff in November against pro-Russian opposition.
1:27.0	Sarah Rainsford was in a village on the border with Transnistria.
1:36.0	Driving towards the breakaway state of Transnistria, I spotted three burly figures at a distant checkpoint.
1:40.0	As we drew closer, I could make out the little flags on the soldier's sleeves, the red, white and blue stripes of Russia.
1:49.0	Are you sure this is okay? I asked our local producer we can go through here I was expelled
1:56.8	from Russia three years ago and suddenly seeing those soldiers was a little nerve-wracking
2:07.0	they waved us past with barely a glance, but it was a jolting reminder of Russia's presence in Moldova long after the collapse of the USSR.
2:13.2	That's when a war broke out over Transnistria,
2:16.6	a sliver of land in eastern Moldova
2:19.4	that had declared its independence.
	...

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