Moscow is hoping pro-European Moldovans living abroad don’t go out to vote in September’s elections, the country’s national security chief told POLITICO.
Russia is ramping up efforts to influence Moldovans living abroad across Europe to try to sway critical elections next month, the EU candidate country’s security chief has warned.
National Security Adviser Stanislav Secrieru told POLITICO that officials have seen a sharp uptick in disinformation aimed at the almost quarter of a million voters in the diaspora, ahead of the vote in September, where the pro-Western government faces a crucial test.
“Russia and its proxies are now actively focusing their efforts on the Moldovan diaspora,” Secrieru said, pointing to a renewed blitz from a Kremlin-backed network known as Matryoshka. The tactics include creating copycat fake outlets and using them to disseminate false reports.
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“The campaign is designed to demobilize diaspora voters — encouraging them to stay home — and to manipulate those who do vote into supporting a fake pro-EU force. Disguised to imitate the look and tone of legitimate European media outlets, these fabricated reports aim to erode trust in Moldova’s democratic institutions and sow confusion among Moldovan communities abroad,” he added.
Moldova’s sizable population living outside the country overwhelmingly voted in favor of its liberal president, Maia Sandu, in an election last year that was marred by allegations of Russian interference.
A simultaneous referendum on the country’s EU membership bid narrowly passed because of ballots cast by post and at polling stations set up in other European cities. Moscow targeted that vote, Secrieru told POLITICO at the time, through a sophisticated scheme offering voters cash for backing pro-Russian opposition parties.
The vote on Sept. 28 could see “possible disruptions similar to those seen in previous elections — such as hoax bomb threats at polling stations in European cities — or staged protests abroad aimed at projecting false dissatisfaction,” Secrieru said, adding that other countries need to step up monitoring efforts and respond to any attempts to sway the vote, before, during and after the elections.
Sandu last week declared that “the Russian Federation wants to control the Republic of Moldova from autumn onwards,” and is stepping up efforts to support her opponents. The governing liberal Party of Action and Solidarity is campaigning on having secured EU candidacy and is hoping to retain its parliamentary majority to keep accession talks with Brussels on track.
Brussels has been providing support to Moldova to bolster its resilience in the face of what the EUvsDisinfo network describes as a “coordinated campaign” to undermine Sandu, “manipulate online discourse and undermine trust in legitimate information sources.”