A new Moscow-backed political grouping in Moldova has Vladimir Putin’s support to destabilize the former Soviet country as it seeks European Union membership, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said.

Ilan Shor, a U.S.-sanctioned fugitive oligarch, has announced the creation of the pro-Russian electoral bloc, which plans to run a candidate in Moldova’s presidential elections on October 20.

However, Dionis Cenusa, an expert on Moldovan politics, told Newsweek an overt Moscow operation in Moldova could backfire for the Kremlin because it would increase the chances of current President Maia Sandu winning the next election, which would be “a serious miss for Russia and its pawns.”