Russia is preparing unprecedented interference in Moldova's elections: details from Sandu

Russia is preparing unprecedented interference in the parliamentary elections in Moldova scheduled for September 2025. This was announced after a meeting of the Supreme Security Council by the country's President Maia Sandu, reports Moldovan media outlet Newsmaker.

According to Sandu, the Kremlin is investing in several political projects to get its people into the next parliament – all of which are coordinated from one center and largely funded through the fugitive oligarch's criminal schemes of Ilan Shor.

She provides the following details about Russian interference:

→ as part of vote-buying and illegal external financing, Moscow plans to send about 100 million euros through cryptocurrency alone, but the police have already imposed almost 25,000 fines, and the Moldovan budget has received about 15 million lei (~3 million euros);

→ disinformation campaigns and manipulation of public opinion organized from abroad;

→ organization of paid protests;

→ cyberattacks on digital infrastructure related to the elections, as well as on other critical infrastructure;

→ use of the church in the interests of a foreign state;

→ engaging opinion leaders and bloggers as intermediaries to spread messages against Moldova's European course;

→ involvement of organized crime in destabilization activities;

→ sabotage of voting in the diaspora (during the elections in the fall of 2024, Sandu managed to defeat the pro-Russian candidate Oleksandr Stoyanoglo through the voices of the diaspora. – Ed.);

→ hybrid influence on voters from the Gagauz autonomy and Russia-controlled illegal Transnistria;

→ online mobilization and radicalization through the propaganda of extremism and hatred in society.

At the same time, the president believes that this "should not frighten us [Moldovans], it should mobilize us."

"Russia's interference poses serious risks to public order and national security, and most importantly, it could dramatically undermine the country's sovereignty and our European future. The state institutions know what they have to do. In the coming period, they must act in a more coordinated, professional and united manner to protect national interests. There is a difficult period ahead, dear citizens. But our future depends only on us," Sandu emphasized.

Criticizing her words came out pro-Russian former president of Moldova, head of the Socialists Igor Dodon, but at the same time, the mayor of Chișinău, Ion Ceban, also voiced a negative reaction. He heads the pro-European MAN party and has also condemned Russia's full-scale invasion and supported Ukraine's territorial integrity.

The politician claims that the ruling PAS party has launched a campaign of intimidation and is using state institutions to its advantage.

• On July 19, Moldova did not allow the pro-Russian electoral bloc Pobeda, headed by fugitive oligarch Shor, to participate in the elections.
• On July 22, four pro-Russian parties in Moldova decided to unite into a single bloc to participate in the parliamentary elections.
• On July 26, Moldovan police reported that participants in the rally of these pro-Russian forces distributed money for participation in the event.