The head of the Central Election Commission, Ilirjan Celibashi, said that in the meeting held with representatives of political parties and Ambassador Yuri Kim, the latter conveyed the concern of the US regarding Russian funding to political parties.

In a statement to the media after the meeting, which lasted about an hour, Celibashi said that the US is increasing its attention so that new funding does not affect Albanian politics.

He added that there is a need to improve the legal framework for the CEC to investigate more deeply the money received by political parties.

“In short, ambassador Yuri Kim conveyed the concern of the US, our ally, regarding foreign funding in Albanian politics. In the light of the latest information that they have, they conveyed this concern, that they increase attention and what is in their power to do better so that foreign funding does not affect Albanian politics. There is a need to improve the legal framework for the CEC to investigate more deeply the money that parties receive, where they receive it and how they use it. There are no discussions of a technical nature. It remains to be seen. In the future, there will be changes” – said Celibashi.

The meeting at the Central Election Commission came a day after a senior American official stated that Russia has secretly given over $300 million to political parties and candidates in dozens of countries since 2014, including Albania. “In Albania, Russia gave about half a million dollars to the Democratic Party in 2017 through shell companies,” the US government source said. The former chairman of the Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha, denied it, stating that “the Democratic Party has never received any foreign funding, much less from a Russian source.”