Moldova, the EU and the United States said the Kremlin had waged a "hybrid war" campaign to destabilize the country and keep it in Russia's sphere of influence, including funding pro-Moscow parties, spreading disinformation and pouring millions of dollars into schemes to buy up 300,000 votes. Nearly 1.5 million Moldovans ultimately voted.

On Monday, President Maia Sandu reiterated claims that voter fraud and foreign interference had undermined the votes, calling it a 'vile attack.'

Voters in Moldova, a small country bordering Ukraine, voted by a slim margin to join the European Union. Though accession talks began only a few months ago and joining would not happen for years, the vote hinders Russia's attempts to draw the nation of 3 million people back into its own sphere of influence.

Moldova has narrowly backed a move for closer ties to the EU in a referendum, electoral authorities say. The yes campaign won the vote with a margin of less than a per cent - just a few thousand votes. The referendum asked voters to choose whether to enshrine a path towards European Union membership in the country's constitution.

Moldovans were on track to clear a key hurdle toward joining the European Union in a set of votes on Sunday that may help break the Kremlin’s decades-long grip on the country.

Moldovans voted by a razor-thin majority in favor of securing the country's path toward European Union membership, electoral data showed Monday, after the pro-Western president accused foreign interference and "criminal groups" of trying to undermine the vote in the former Soviet republic.