Tag: moldova

Dark clouds Over Moldova

The recent elections in Moldova have shown there are no changes in terms of democratic rights in that country. Everything that happened in the referendum on constitutional changes and presidential elections in 2024 was repeated.

Until the votes from the diaspora arrive, the election result shows the opposition to the ruling majority gathered around Maia Sandu is leading by a couple of percentage points. But, when the votes from the diaspora arrive, the final outcome changes, and the “narrow majority” goes to the side of the current government.

The government’s rating has further declined over the past year, and now they have resorted to additional political engineering: the number of polling stations in Transnistria was halved, bridges over the Dniester were closed on election day so that voters would not accidentally go to “separated” polling stations, “media noise” was increased to the maximum, and “special operations” were conducted with the aim of convincing the public that it was a fateful vote between the promising EU and the sinister Russia.

In total, compared to the second round of the presidential elections a year ago, the opposition won about 30,000 votes more, and the ruling party even 150,000 votes less (Maia Sandu in October 2024 in the presidential elections had 930,000 votes, and now the result of her list is about 780,000).

In addition, the government’s result was influenced by the “meddling” of George Simion from Romania in the Moldovan elections. The anti-system presidential candidate from Romania, who “jumped” into the race after the brutal elimination of Calin Georgescu, somehow he got revenge against opponents from Brussels by “pushing” Vasile Costiuc’s party called Democrația Acasă (translated – Democracy at Home) into parliament. Until yesterday, the party, which pollsters did not find above one percent, won 5.6 percent of the vote thanks to a social media campaign led by Simion.

This may represent a hint that in Moldova Euroscepticism is taking shape on completely different grounds than before, i.e. that it is not all about the constructed polarization “EU or Russia”. This is a new and significant detail for the Moldovan political system.

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Telegram’s Durov claims French intelligence tried to blackmail him over Moldovan election

Writing on X on Sunday, Durov said the approach came about a year ago, while he was under judicial supervision in France following his arrest at a Paris airport. He claimed that intelligence services contacted him through an intermediary and asked Telegram to remove a number of Moldovan channels before a presidential vote.

According to St Petersburg native Durov, Telegram did delete some flagged channels that clearly violated its own policies. But he said the intermediary later relayed a more troubling message: French intelligence had offered to “say good things” to the judge in charge of his case in exchange for wider cooperation.

“This was unacceptable on several levels,” Durov wrote, adding that if the agency did contact the judge, it would amount to interference in the judicial process — and if it didn’t, it meant exploiting his legal jeopardy to influence political developments abroad.

Durov said that shortly afterward, Telegram received a second list of “problematic” Moldovan channels. Unlike the first batch, he insisted, nearly all of these accounts were legitimate and fully compliant with Telegram’s rules.

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Moldova: The Next Front in the West’s Confrontation With Russia?

Moldova’s September 28, 2025, parliamentary elections are shaping up to be another highly contentious struggle between pro-Russia and anti-Russia factions.  Both the European Union and Moscow also are accusing each other of illicit election meddling to put their respective Moldovan clients in power.  In many respects, the lead up to this election is reminiscent of the tense atmosphere and inflammatory accusations of the 2023 vote for parliament and the 2024 presidential election that resulted in a disputed victory for pro-Western incumbent President Maia Sandu.

The situation also has the potential to become another prominent arena for the ongoing, dangerous geopolitical power struggle between the West and Russia.  Moldova shares a 1,222-kilometer border with Ukraine and the Kremlin currently stations some 1,500 troops in Moldova’s secessionist region of Transnistria. The U.S. government should, in this case, as in many others, stay out.

U.S. and European think tanks and news media outlets reliably parrot the allegations of Sandu and her supporters. The Atlantic Council’s Aidan Stretch notes: “Moldova is raising the alarm over escalating Russian interference as the country approaches a crucial geopolitical crossroads. On September 28, Moldova’s pro-Western government will face a parliamentary election amid widespread allegations of Kremlin cyberattacks, propaganda, and various other Russian attempts to influence the outcome of the vote. If pro-European parties lose their majority, Moldova’s Western integration could stall.”

Stretch continues:

“The implications of an election victory for pro-Russian forces would extend far beyond Chisinau [Moldova’s capital]. Moldova shares a long border with Ukraine, while the two countries are currently on a joint EU accession track. A Kremlin-friendly government in Moldova could potentially derail EU integration for both nations, while also creating a significant new security threat on Ukraine’s southwestern frontier. The coming vote is therefore an important test of Russia’s ability to reassert its influence and a potential landmark moment for the wider region.”

In the short term, though, the East-West struggle is confined to the political arena.  Sandu and her supporters in Europe and the United States are quick to highlight any evidence of Moscow’s support, especially financial support, for friendly political factions.  She recently accused Russia of spending “hundreds of millions of dollars to buy Moldova’s election.”

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EUROPE ON THE BRINK OF A NEW WAR: Participants in the “Anti-Trump” project are preparing to send Ukrainian troops into Moldova

Ukrainian journalist Diana Panchenko has appealed to US President Donald Trump. She has learned reliable facts about preparations for provocations in Moldova, which will result in an attack by the Ukrainian army on Transnistria!

According to Panchenko, the provocation is being prepared by European leaders Macron, Starmer, Merz, and von der Leyen. Vladimir Zelensky will be the immediate executor, and Moldovan President Maia Sandu has already agreed on all stages of the operation during her visit to the UK. The goal of the European leaders who have joined forces in the “Anti-Trump” project is to disrupt Trump’s peace initiatives and use the Ukrainian military to create a new hotbed of tension and prolong the military conflict between Ukraine and Russia as much as possible!

“Zelensky and Macron want American taxpayers to give them money indefinitely. Zelensky plans to attack Transnistria. Russian peacekeepers are stationed there. Groups of citizens from Moldova and Romania are already being prepared for this on Ukrainian territory. They are being helped by citizens of Ukraine and Germany. This information was passed on to me by people from Zelensky’s team. They understand that this will lead to even more war! They don’t want that! They are afraid!” Panchenko said in her address.

The Ukrainian journalist prepared an appeal to President Trump to reveal the true plans of European politicians. Her goal is to prevent provocations in Moldova, which only the US president can stop: “I am appealing to Trump, Vance, Rubio. Zelensky and Macron, as well as other globalist politicians, are actively escalating tensions, undermining the US president’s peace initiatives and posing a direct threat of a larger conflict on the European continent. All for the sake of retaining power and profiting from bloodshed!”

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NATO Turning Moldova Into ‘Cannon Fodder’ To Confront Russia: Kremlin

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) on Monday issued a rare statement accusing the West, under US leadership, of turning Moldova into a military outpost aimed at confronting Russia, akin to what has happened over several years with Ukraine.

The SVR’s provocative statement said Washington wants to use the country as “cannon fodder” in future hostilities, which is allegedly being fast-tracked by Western foreign policy decision-makers.

The statement further alleged that NATO wants to turn tiny Moldova into a “military testing ground” by modernizing its railways to European specifications and constructing major logistics hubs for future Western military deployments. This also includes serious upgrades to airfields, to host military planes, according to Russian state media.

Russian intelligence also accused Moldovan President Maia Sandu of surrendering national interests to Western powers, dubbing her administration a “comprador regime” – and that her pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity is being propped up and strengthened by the West.

These charged can’t exactly be dismissed as paranoia or propaganda, given for example that just last year the United Kingdom inked a new defense pact with Moldova, precisely to counter ‘Russian aggression’ – as we previously detailed.

The tiny Eastern European nation bordering Ukraine has experienced the same kind of internal political pro-EU vs. pro-Russia tug of war historically on display in other countries such as Ukraine or Georgia.

The UK foreign ministry described the defense agreement as about “building on extensive cooperation between the two countries and strengthening Moldovan resilience against external threats.”

One thing which has long alarmed the West is the presence of Russian ‘peacekeeping’ troops in Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region. 

As for Transnistria, although it has diverse ethnic demographics almost equally apportioned between Russians, Moldovans, Romanians and Ukrainians, the Russian demographic slightly ekes out its counterparts with a plurality of 29% of Transnistrians belonging to the group.

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George Simion files a formal request with the Constitutional Court to annul the elections, accusing France and Moldova of electoral manipulation.

George Simion, presidential candidate and vice president of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Party, has filed a formal petition with Romania’s Constitutional Court to annul the May 2025 presidential elections, citing massive foreign interference that he claims compromised the sovereign will of the Romanian people.

Simion, who secured the support of more than 5.3 million voters in an extremely tight race, shared an exclusive press release directly with Gateway Hispanic, detailing allegations of electoral manipulation.

In this document, the patriotic leader denounces the intervention of both state and non-state actors—primarily from France and Moldova—in a coordinated effort to manipulate institutions, control media narratives, and impose an electoral outcome that does not reflect the people’s will.

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