CHISINAU (Reuters) - The candidate challenging pro-European incumbent Maia Sandu in Moldova's presidential election rejected suggestions that he was beholden to Russia, calling for European integration while avoiding the divisions he said the president had created.
Alexandr Stoianoglo is backed in Sunday's run-off vote by a party traditionally linked to Russia.
He told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday that if elected to lead the ex-Soviet state he would seek to bridge differences with Moldova's separatist Transdniestria enclave and was prepared to meet Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin if it was in the interests of a majority of his compatriots.
"I have had no contacts for years with officials in Russia. Not by telephone, not in secret, not in meetings, not anywhere,"Stoianoglo said in response to Sandu's allegation that he was a "Trojan horse" and "Moscow's man".
Sandu, who scored 42% in the election's first round last month to 26% for Stoianoglo, has made European integration the focus of her four years in office and denounces Russia as one of the greatest evils facing the country, which lies between Ukraine and Romania. Relations with Moscow have plummeted.
In the aftermath of the first round - and a razor-thin "yes" vote in a referendum on joining the European Union - Sandu cited "clear evidence" that criminal groups backed by "foreign forces" had tried to bribe 300,000 voters.
Stoianoglo, answering questions in writing, said he had no links with Ilan Shor, the fugitive pro-Russian businessman who acknowledges paying voters to cast "no" ballots in the referendum.
He restated his call for a "reset" of relations with Moscow despite criticism from opponents.
"I will keep maintaining that the priority must be what benefits the majority of Moldovan society," he said. "And that means toning down the escalation. We should be the ones offering constructive solutions. Particularly, for our own citizens."
MEETING WITH PUTIN POSSIBLE
Stoianoglo, who Sandu said she sacked as prosecutor general for failing to tackle corruption, made no condemnation of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He called it "a continuing tragedy" and said he could envisage meeting Putin under certain conditions.
"If the (agenda) is of sufficient interest to the majority of Moldovans that a meeting between the two leaders is needed, I will meet the president of Russia," he said.
European integration, he said, had to focus on meeting EU standards and legislation.
And it made no sense without tackling differences with pro-Moscow separatists in Transdniestria, who split from Moldova in the 1990s, and whose separation is backed by the presence of 1,500 Russian "peacekeepers". Sandu has suggested dealing with the separatist issue after first joining the EU.
"Every step approaching Brussels must be done together with (Transdniestria leaders)," he said. "I realise how difficult this is, but the effects must also be significant."
Stoianoglo said it was unclear in the run-off whether he would win over voters who backed nine candidates eliminated in the first round, some of them unsympathetic to Sandu.
"Our voters are sophisticated and their behaviour is sometimes unpredictable. Nothing is certain," he said.
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
