{"id":"4453f20e-9d42-4583-87ea-17d2501c13d5","canonicalName":"Anton Usov","primaryCountryId":null,"dateOfBirth":"3.4.1986","placeOfBirth":null,"nationality":null,"position":null,"createdAt":"2026-08-17T09:03:41.727Z","updatedAt":"2026-09-08T11:12:32.426Z","aliases":[{"id":"034ab447-e3b8-4d1b-ae64-fd62cdbf773e","personId":"4453f20e-9d42-4583-87ea-17d2501c13d5","name":"Anton Usov","sourceId":"17544574-74c4-4ccd-93e0-7f0aa625d80d","createdAt":"2026-08-17T09:03:41.730Z","source":{"name":"Switzerland SECO Sanctions List"}},{"id":"f3283640-8140-478d-8f8d-7139b69e3c3d","personId":"4453f20e-9d42-4583-87ea-17d2501c13d5","name":"Usov Anton","sourceId":"17544574-74c4-4ccd-93e0-7f0aa625d80d","createdAt":"2026-08-17T09:03:41.734Z","source":{"name":"Switzerland SECO Sanctions List"}}],"identifiers":[],"sanctions":[{"id":"92f1951a-0370-421c-997e-7072da4e57ae","personId":"4453f20e-9d42-4583-87ea-17d2501c13d5","regime":"Switzerland SECO","program":"Moldova","sourceId":"17544574-74c4-4ccd-93e0-7f0aa625d80d","createdAt":"2026-08-17T09:03:41.738Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-10-19T09:03:29.818Z","delistedAt":null,"designatedAt":null,"legalBasis":"Ordinance of 28 June 2023 on measures concerning Moldova (RS 946.231.156.5), art. 2 para. 1 (Financial sanctions) and art. 3 para. 1 (Travelban)","reason":"Anton Usov is an activist in the Popular Front – Putin’s Team, who infiltrated the church structures of the Republic of Moldova, coordinating a structured influence campaign targeting the country’s parliamentary elections of 2025. He oversaw messaging, clergy mobilisation and political alignment within the Diocese of Soroca and Drochia. He used religious platforms, particularly the “Salt and Light” Telegram channel and the print outlet “Salt and Light”, to disseminate narratives blending Orthodox discourse with political messaging, while instructing priests how and for whom parishioners should vote. Anton Usov implemented mechanisms of operational control and electoral mobilisation by surveying priests to assess political loyalty, conditioning financial assistance on compliance, facilitating payments through Russian channels and requiring “loyalty photos” of parish gatherings to report activity back to Moscow. He is further accused of organising systematic collection of believers’ personal data during religious events, pilgrimages and church programmes in order to build voter databases for targeted mobilisation. By acting as a strategic intermediary between Russian political structures and segments of the clergy in the Republic of Moldova, using religious authority, financial leverage, and coordinated digital messaging to influence the democratic electoral processes, Anton Usov is responsible for, and implementing actions and policies which undermine and threaten democracy, the rule of law and stability in the Republic of Moldova, through actions obstructing and undermining the democratic political process, including by obstructing and seriously undermining the holding of elections in the Republic of Moldova.","sanctionType":"Financial sanctions; Travel ban","documentUrl":null,"source":{"name":"Switzerland SECO Sanctions List"}}],"sourceLinks":[{"externalId":"107299","fetchedAt":"2026-10-19T09:03:29.818Z","source":{"name":"Switzerland SECO Sanctions List","url":"https://www.seco.admin.ch/seco/en/home/Aussenwirtschaftspolitik_Wirtschaftliche_Zusammenarbeit/Wirtschaftsbeziehungen/exportkontrollen-und-sanktionen/sanktionen-embargos.html","official":false,"entityType":"company"}}],"officerRoles":[],"wikidata":null}