<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Moldova is now seeking extradition from Russia of an opposition politician convicted of mass fraud after he moved there from exile in Israel, the country’s justice minister said on Saturday.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Ilan Shor, a pro-Russian business magnate, was sentenced last year in absentia to 15 years in prison in connection with the disappearance from the banking system of $1 billion in 2014, dubbed Moldova’s “theft of the century.”</div><div><br></div><div>Shor has organized noisy street demonstrations against pro-European President Maia Sandu and urged Moldovans to vote “no” in a referendum authorities have called for October on joining the European Union by 2030.</div><div><br></div><div>Justice Minister Veronica-Mihailov Moraru said Moldova would redirect its extradition appeals to Moscow after Shor said he had moved to Russia and announced he had been granted Russian citizenship.</div><div><br></div><div>“The justice ministry has not been informed of this by the Russian authorities,” she told TVR Moldova television.</div><div><br></div><div>“If we are advised officially that he holds Russian citizenship, we will analyze the circumstances and consider how to act in procedural terms.”</div><div><br></div><div>Moldova, an ex-Soviet state lying between Ukraine and Romania, had repeatedly sought Shor’s extradition from Israel.</div><div><br></div><div>After his conviction, a party bearing Shor’s name was banned by the Constitutional Court and a new party, called “Chance,” was formed in its place.</div><div><br></div><div>Shor is the driving force behind the “Victory” electoral bloc launched last month — in Moscow — to oppose the EU referendum and Sandu’s bid for re-election at a poll to be held on the same date.</div><div><br></div><div>He said last week he wanted to become prime minister if a president favorable to his views would nominate him.</div><div><br></div><div>Sandu denounces Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and describes Russia and corruption as the biggest threats to her country.</div><div><br></div><div>The Victory bloc, made up of four parties, campaigns with the slogan “No to the EU” and calls for Moldova instead to join the Eurasian Economic Union — a Russian-led regional grouping.</div><div><br></div><div>It has not yet decided on a candidate to run against Sandu. The opposition Socialists and Communists, also friendly to Moscow, oppose the pro-EU referendum but have shown little inclination to cooperate with Shor and the Victory bloc. - Reuters</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd/fas</div>