Vasile Bolea is a politician, jurist and ex-rugby player from the Republic of Moldova. Since November 2014, he has been a deputy in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova and was elected on the list of the Party of Socialists from the Republic of Moldova (PSRM). In August 2024, the pro-Russian Moldovan party Victory nominated Vasile Bolea as its presidential candidate for Moldova. The Victory is a pro-Russian group established by the fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor and his allied groups in Moscow, Russia, on 21 April 2024.
Vasile Bolea joined the Victory Party after being expelled from the Socialist Party for visiting Tel Aviv and meeting with Ilan Shor, who was convicted to 15 years in Moldova for his part in the 2014 bank scam. The victory consists of pro-Russian, eurosceptic, and nationalist forces that fight Moldova‘s alignment with the West.
In his election agenda, Vasile Bolea, in statements deemed pro-Russian, calls for Moldova to “restore relations with Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States,” join BRICS, “reinstate the status of the Russian language” and secure “cheap gas and affordable energy” for the economy. Further, he said
“the Russian language was deprived of it unjustifiably. Now the authorities are using the language issue to divert people’s attention from social and economic problems to divide them.”
Fugitive oligarch and leader of the Victory bloc, Ilan Shor, defined Bolea as “a reliable friend, someone who will combat for his ideas and his team to the end”.
In a significant development within Moldova’s political landscape, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Moldova rejected to enlist Vasile Bolea, a candidate supported by the pro-Moscow bloc “Victory,” for the presidential elections. The reason was that despite his affiliations with pro-Russian opinions, Bolea attempted to present himself as an independent candidate when offering his registration documents.
In October, before the elections, Moldovan authorities also intercepted 15 Telegram channels and 95 chatbots connected to the fugitive convicted oligarch Ilan Shor, in a move to counter his alleged attempts to sway the outcome of the October 20 presidential elections. Surprisingly, the Telegram channels of Russia-based Ilan Shor and Vasile Bolea were then deactivated.
