EUvsDisinfo: Moscow’s anger and plan for Moldova (original title: Moscow’s anger and plan for Moldova)
Moscow has long sought to create tension and sabotage Moldova’s European path.
This week’s coverage in pro-Kremlin media outlets has focused on Moldova’s referendum on a constitutional change that would enshrine the country’s European aspirations in the constitution. The most popular narratives have been allegations of massive electoral fraud perpetrated by President Sandu’s administration to sway the vote in its favor. In parallel, disinformation media also focused on the presidential elections, claiming that the government is repressing the opposition and opposition media.
These are classic messages that Moscow uses when there are elections in the EU and in other countries that do not follow Russian policy. As an example, you can see in this series how Moscow covered the EP elections. Two narratives are being pushed: “elites against the people“ and “lost sovereignty“. An illustrative example from “Rossiya segodnya“ in German is the claim that last weekend's elections were “a creeping coup d'état towards a one-party system“. The Kremlin's accusations were broadcast on most platforms in different languages to reach audiences around the world and to smear Sandu and the EU.
One might ask: if the vote was supposedly so manipulated, then why did the referendum and the presidential elections not achieve results to the liking of President Sandu and the government? We know how things stand in Russia, where most of the election results presented show over 80% support for the regime.
All of this contrasts with the preliminary findingsand conclusions of the OSCE International Election Observation Mission. The organization concluded that both votes were well-organized and noted that “the candidates freely campaigned amid concerns of illegal foreign interference and active disinformation efforts.“ The term actually refers to interference by Russia and its proxies.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moldovan authorities conducted the presidential election “using anti-democratic, totalitarian methods“. Zakharova denied accusations that Russia was interfering in Moldova's internal affairs and seeking to influence the election. The decisiveness with which Zakharova made her claims suggests that she acknowledges Moscow’s obvious interference.
A cardinal rule: never believe anything until Moscow denies it.
Preparing for the second round in Moldova on November 3
Moscow is disappointed that years of pressure have failed to secure its dominance over Moldova, but the campaign continues. The Kremlin is using Moldova as a testing ground for modern manipulation techniques. All sorts of tricks are being used: pressure through economic measures, especially energy cuts; an attempted coupin 2023; and the massive spread of fake content, including AI-generated videos misusing Sandu's image. In addition, Kremlin proxy networks have been planning orchestrated demonstrations and riots, and oligarchs such as Ilan Shor, who is in hiding in Moscow, have been accused of vote-buying on a large scale. Everything indicates that Moscow will intensify its interference and attacks against Sandu in the weeks leading up to the second round of the presidential elections in Moldova on November 3.
Ukraine: Whose Narrative of Peace?
The Kremlin’s tales of supposed peace and Ukraine’s future are yet another example of the creeping manipulation of the information space in order to control and dominate it. A key to understanding the Kremlin’s deceptive messages is to recall what has been said before and how Moscow seeks to divert attention to other topics.
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzia made a statement this week about Ukraine's NATO membership: “Ukraine's membership in NATO in any territorial form is absolutely unacceptable to Russia and cannot be part of any peace plans or mediation initiatives“. With these words, he suggests that Russia almost has the a priori right to determine what can and cannot be discussed.
Here, manipulation of the information space is taking place by taking positions in advance that cannot be changed in subsequent negotiations: another classic Kremlin tactic, also observed in connection with the Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions of Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia. The misleading formulation reads: “These are closed issues, they are regions of the Russian Federation“. The sugar-coated version, also aimed at third countries around the world, reads: “Everyone must accept the realities on the ground“. Who wouldn’t want to be in touch with reality? Who would want to live with their head in the clouds?
Pay attention to Moscow’s electoral approach. Russian leaders often claim in their high-flown speeches that “each country is free to choose” and that “Russia does not interfere”. A comparison of disinformation with reality proves the opposite. Moscow is determined to control its neighbors, and others besides them.
Other topics in this week’s EUvsDisinfo roundup:
“Pro-Russian woman dies in Ukrainian police station in Odessa after interrogation“
Spoiler alert: no. But Russia’s leading state-run TV channels and their social media platforms have a history of spreading the most outrageous lies, including murders, burnings, crucifixions and similar emotionally charged plots. This story takes place in Odessa – a major Ukrainian port city on the Black Sea, important for global grain exports. Ukrainian police are accused of being responsible for the death of a young woman who simply wanted to wave a Russian flag. The story was presented on Sunday night in prime time by a fiery duo: top propagandist Vladimir Solovyov and the editor-in-chief of “Russia Today” Margarita Simonyan. Solovyov enjoys an audience of several million followers and viewers, further augmented by “Russia Today” (RT), which is published in more than 25 languages.
There was just one problem: the woman was not dead. She is under house arrest for petty hooliganism and is known to the police for theft, hooliganism and drinking in public. As usual, the whole story dried up within days of its broadcast. But the damage was done, like a stain left by throwing mud on a wall. Even after it has subsided, propaganda leaves a trace of doubt in the viewer's mind. The pioneer sociologist Carl Hovland calls this cognitive feature of the human brain the “sleeper effect“.
Why this distraction? Well, Odessa was again attacked for several days with heavy Russian missile bombardment, killing many civilians and hitting merchant ships. The story did not receive much public attention. According to reportsof the Ukrainian authorities, the systematic Russian attacks have caused losses of $1.5 billion - equipment and products stored in Odessa for sea transport, such as grain in storage and containers with sunflower oil, were destroyed. However, deliveries by ships continue.
„Hurricane Milton and the flood in Brazil - caused by a US research station“
Another leading Russian state television, „Pervyy Kanal“, unleashed a new disinformation storm with a claim that, so to speak, reached the strength of Hurricane Milton in the Caribbean. Again, not a spoiler alert. According to this conspiracy theory, pulses in the magnetosphere from powerful antennas at an American research center in Alaska caused Milton.
Distraction: Through a lot of pseudo-technical nonsense, the viewer is led to believe that sinister American Frankenstein scientists also caused a flood of biblical proportions in Brazil this year by spraying chemicals. Scientists may explain that the power of the antenna pulses is insignificant compared to frequent natural lightning strikes – but doubt is sown. If Brazil had not joined the BRICS, perhaps the US would not have decided to punish this country... And what about the floods earlier this year in Russian regions that caused public anger against the Russian authorities?
„Documents indicate – Moldovan President Maia Sandu Has Schizophrenia“
We end as we began: with Moldova. This time, the rapidly growing Russian state-run outlets using Pravda-(xx).com addresses are contributing to the defamation of Maya Sandu to the global public. Specifically, the Spanish-language site pravda-es.com is aimed at the global Spanish-speaking audience. The “Pravda“ network is both a news generator and a platform for unique content, so it distributes machine-translated material across multiple language domains to flood, pollute, and draw attention to stories related to specific countries. This story is clickbait, i.e. a lure to open the link en masse. Rumors that a certain political leader suffers from a serious mental illness are causing serious damage to his reputation. So far, there are no reliable medical documents to support such an accusation. It seems that this is just another way to divert attention from Moscow's real problem: and Moscow's problem in this case is that a country is looking for its own way.
Stay out of the mud and don't let yourself be fooled.
EUvsDisinfo/ translation: Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria