On 22 September 2025, Bloomberg reported that “Russia has devised a plan to intervene in elections in Moldova with a “multi-pronged strategy” that was “finalized in spring and coordinated directly by the Kremlin.”
The objective of Moscow’s efforts is “to undermine the chances of President Maia Sandu’s Party of Action and Solidarity in the Sept. 28 vote and ultimately see her removed from power.”
The methods Russians are prepared to employ in this endeavor include “recruitment of Moldovans abroad, including in Russia, to vote at polling stations in the EU and elsewhere, deploying others to stage disruptive protests and a widespread disinformation campaign on social media,” as well as “the use of compromising material to pressure public officials to disrupt the electoral process.” Russia also prepared plans “to recruit young men from sports clubs and criminal networks to stage violent provocations during the vote and protests after it,” with “demonstrations calling for Sandu to resign if her party loses the election or to paint the result as tainted if it wins.”
That same day, Moldovan security agencies “detained 74 people and conducted more than 250 searches across the country, dismantling a network allegedly run with support from the Russian intelligence service GRU.” Moldovan officials stated that “Moldovan citizens were being trained in Serbia on protest tactics by Russian intelligence operatives.”
Meanwhile, a BBC undercover investigation discovered that “a secret Russian-funded network is attempting to disrupt upcoming democratic elections” in Moldova, with links between this “secret network and Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor – sanctioned by the US for ‘the Kremlin’s malign influence operations’ and now a fugitive in Moscow.”
Efforts Category: Russia’s Political and Covert Subversion vs Moldova
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