A Moldovan oligarch and former senior politician has been extradited from Greece accused of involvement in the theft of $1bn (£748m).

Vladimir Plahotniuc, 59, was flown from Athens to Chisinau on Thursday morning and then taken to a detention centre in Moldova’s capital, local officials said.

The tycoon, who faces several long-running criminal cases in Moldova, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has vowed to prove his innocence.

His extradition comes days before Sunday’s parliamentary elections, with President Maia Sandu warning that Moldova’s independence and European future are in danger because of attempts by Russia to foment violence and spread disinformation.

Vladimir Plahotniuc fled Moldova in 2019, when his Democratic Party was voted out of power.

On Thursday morning, he was seen being escorted from the plane he arrived in by Moldovan police and Interpol officials.

He was then put in a car and driven away from the airport.

In a post on social media, President Sandu wrote: “If you don’t give up when it’s hard and keep fighting – the whole society keeps fighting – even criminals who seemed invincible come to justice.”

His lawyer Lucian Rogac accused Sandu’s pro-EU government of turning his client’s extradition “into a tasteless political spectacle” ahead of the key elections.

The lawyer also said his client’s “fundamental rights” were violated during the extradition process that started on 22 July with his arrest in Athens’ airport at Moldova’s request.

The tycoon is one of the main suspects in the disappearance of $1bn from three Moldovan banks in 2014 – a case known as the “theft of the century”.

At the time, the sum was reported to be worth more than 10% of Moldova’s gross domestic product.

His extradition comes as the impoverished country between Romania and Ukraine is preparing for 28 September elections that will determine whether Moldova continues its integration with the EU, or returns to Russia’s political influence.

Earlier this week, Sandu accused Moscow of “pouring hundreds of millions of euros” into Moldova in a bid to stoke violence and spread disinformation and fear.

“The Kremlin believes we are all for sale. That we are too small to resist… But Moldova is our home. And our home is not for sale,” the president said.

The BBC has recently uncovered evidence of a network with ties to Moscow and fugitive Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor which has been working to spread disinformation.

An undercover reporter found people being paid to post fake content online, intended to undermine the governing party ahead of the vote. The posts have had millions of views. Shor has not responded to a BBC request for comment.

Speaking at the UN’s General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Europe could not afford to lose Moldova to Russian influence, after failing to save Georgia and Belarus from Moscow’s orbit.

Zelensky said that Russian President Vladimir Putin – who launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – “will keep driving the war forward wider and deeper” if he was not stopped.

Meanwhile, Moldova’s pro-Russian parties have accused Sandu of trying to intimidate them – and sway the vote.

They also say her government is not going far enough in tackling widespread corruption.

Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service this week accused European countries of plotting the “blatant falsification” of the result on Sunday in order to provoke protests.

The SVR warned that the EU could mount “an armed incursion and de-facto occupation” of Moldova, falsely claiming that the EU was deploying troops.

Moldova declared its independence as the USSR collapsed in 1991, but it has a significant Russian-speaking population. The breakaway region of Transnistria, propped up by Moscow, is still home to a contingent of Russian troops.