Moldova’s leader exposes Russian election meddling
Russia's goal is to exert control over the Republic of Moldova and undermine the country's sovereignty through disinformation, manipulation, and direct vote-buying.
According to Adrian Băluțel, Chief of Staff to President Maia Sandu, Moldova is currently on an accelerated path toward European integration, enjoying "fairly high support," which is prompting Russia to act and undermine our country's European course.
Adrian Băluțel notes, however, that the Russian Federation has "largely exhausted the credibility of its political representatives" here in the Republic of Moldova.
"A dangerous element I've seen in the public sphere is the attempt to marginalize the threat—claiming it's not a real danger, that it's just political rhetoric, that it doesn't matter, that there's no interference, no thousands of social media bots, and that there's no risk of anything happening. This is meant to distort citizens' vigilance. Now it's important to be united and very vigilant about everything we see in the public sphere, everything circulating on the internet, on TikTok," Adrian Băluțel said on Thursday evening during a show on Jurnal TV.
Also present in the studio, WatchDog expert Valeriu Pașa emphasized that at the current moment, the war against Ukraine is a priority for Russia, which needs Moldova to achieve its militaristic goals. That's why Moscow is "pouring insane amounts of money" into disinformation campaigns to influence the results of the Moldovan elections, aiming to turn our country "into another Belarus" and "drag us into the war," Pașa explained.
"They are sacrificing everything for the war in Ukraine. They want to conquer Ukraine, at least the south. Potential control over Moldova changes everything. (...) They have spent so much on this war that even the theoretical possibility of controlling the Republic of Moldova, bringing troops here, and attacking Ukraine or at least forcing Ukraine to bring more soldiers into this area could shift the balance of power on the battlefield. This is the only thing they care about," said Valeriu Pașa.
It should be noted that on July 30, following a meeting of the Supreme Security Council (SSC), President Maia Sandu declared that Russia plans to influence the results of the autumn parliamentary elections through destabilizing actions, disinformation campaigns, covert funding, and paid protests.
According to Maia Sandu, the Kremlin is reportedly providing financial support to three categories of political initiatives in the Republic of Moldova. The Kremlin is supposedly planning "funding worth around 100 million euros" solely through cryptocurrencies. The mechanisms used reportedly include "courier networks," "micro-lending for covert financing," "transfers through accounts opened at Promsvyazbank," and "money laundering schemes aimed at corrupting the electoral process," according to the head of state.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
