Kremlin Gains Two More European Allies As Bulgaria, Moldova Elect Pro-Russian Presidents

The good news just keeps going Putin’s way. Just days after Trump defeated the Kremlin’s nemesis Hillary Clinton, and at the same time as NATO is panicking over a potential shift in strategy and funding by the Trump administration and as Russian forces prepare for another blitz assault on Syria to cement their hold over Syria, on Sunday pro-Russian candidates won presidential elections in Moldova and Bulgaria on Sunday, giving Moscow new allies in its efforts to regain influence in parts of Eastern Europe it regards as its backyard. And while Russia is the clear winner, one loser to emerge bruised from the two votes is the European Union.
In the former Soviet republic of Moldova, Socialist party candidate Igor Dodon won 55.5% of the vote, according to preliminary results from Moldova’s electoral commission, beating his pro-European Union rival, Maia Sandu, in a second-round runoff.
In Bulgaria, Socialist-backed Rumen Radev secured 58.1% of the vote, according to an exit poll by Alpha Research released on national television, seeing off the center-right government’s favored candidate, Tsetska Tsacheva. Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said he would resign, possibly opening the way for a snap election in the European Union’s poorest member state.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Nov 14, 2016.