Russia on Tuesday denounced Moldova's weekend election as unfair and said it did not see the winner, Maia Sandu, as the legitimate president of the country. Pro-Western Sandu defeated a former prosecutor general backed by a traditionally pro-Russian party in a vote marred by allegations of election meddling by Moscow,

"She is not, as far as we understand, the president of her country because, in the country itself, the majority of the population did not vote for her," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia was monitoring the ongoing presidential election in Moldova, but was not interfering in it despite a flurry of allegations from the West and Moldova's pro-Western president to the contrary.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Moldovan authorities of blocking thousands of Moldovans living in Russia and the breakaway region of Transnistria from voting in Sunday’s presidential election.