The Moldovan authorities were warned that a large disinformation campaign carried out by the Russian propaganda networks Pravda and Matryoshka started ahead of the campaign prior to the parliamentary elections. According to the Government’s spokesman Daniel Voda, the campaign is a clear attempt to destabilize society before the elections, IPN reports.
Voda said that such campaigns are not a surprise for the Government and that the tactics are known: “We know where they come from, we know what they are aiming for and how dangerous they can be. It is untrue information that is deliberately spread in villages and cities with a single purpose – to split Moldovan society.”
The citizens are warned that false messages are packaged in a credible format and hide manipulations meant to undermine trust in state institutions. The Government’s spokesman noted that the responsible institutions documented the case and established that Russia had already invested €200 million in propaganda and disinformation, i.e. 1% of Moldova’s GDP, and this money could have been used for projects in education or health, in partnership with democratic states, but was directed towards “building lies”.
The Russian publication The Insider reported that the Matryoshka network is directing its efforts to the Republic of Moldova for the first time. Through fake accounts on the social networking sites X and Bluesky, videos accusing President Maia Sandu of corruption and repression are distributed. The images imitate the content of universities or international publications and claim that Maia Sandu won last autumn’s election through manipulation.
In one of the videos shared online, a supposed French university professor in a speech accuses the head of state of repression, referring to the case of the Bashkan of Gagauzia Evgenia Gutul, who was arrested for vote buying and illegal financing. Another video mentions the former head of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office (APO) Veronica Dragalin, who allegedly promised to send evidence of corruption to hundreds of European media outlets. Dragalin did not comment on the accusations and previously resigned in disagreement with the draft law on the merger of the APO and the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases.
The campaign also aims to spread false narratives in which the head of state is accused of alleged extravagant spending on clothes, assertions that were debunked by her communication team. According to presidential adviser Igor Zakharov, these manipulations are part of a broader campaign aimed at thwarting Moldova’s integration into the EU.
