Matryoshka targets Moldova: Fake videos attack Sandu
The Russian disinformation network "Matryoshka" has for the first time launched a campaign targeting the Republic of Moldova, according to the Russian publication The Insider.
The source notes that videos imitating international media or university content are being distributed on Twitter (X) and Bluesky social media platforms. These videos claim that the country's current president, Maia Sandu, won the elections through propaganda campaigns and is currently carrying out reprisals against her opponents.
One video, allegedly produced by the French state service for combating disinformation VIGINUM and distributed on Twitter with the text "VIGINUM has prepared a multi-level study of the phenomenon of propaganda in favor of Maia Sandu on TikTok," falsely claims that $1 million per day was being spent on filming and distributing disinformation videos supporting Maia Sandu.
In another French-language video, the president is accused of political repression due to the arrest of the former head of Gagauzia, Evghenia Guțul, who was detained on suspicion of voter bribery and illegal financing of the pro-Kremlin Șor party. After the arrest, Guțul issued an appeal to Vladimir Putin to exert pressure on the Moldovan authorities to release her.
"A French professor claims that Maia Sandu is involved in corruption and controls the corrupt Moldovan parliament," states the text accompanying this video.
Veronica Dragalin, the former head of Moldova's Anti Corruption Prosecutor's Office, who resigned at her own request in February of this year, is also mentioned in some of these videos. According to a fake video, Dragalin allegedly promised to send evidence to 300 European publications that Sandu took bribes and won the presidential elections through manipulation. Dragalin has not commented on this information. She left office due to disagreement with the bill on the merger of the Anti Corruption Prosecutor's Office with the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases into a new structure, which she called "a threat to justice." Dragalin is also mentioned on a fake cover of the magazine "La Tribune," which is also distributed by "Matryoshka," The Insider further writes.
In addition to accusations of corruption and pressure on opponents, the videos featuring "university professors" utilize common narratives of Kremlin propaganda: specifically, it is claimed that Maia Sandu belongs to the LGBT community and that under her leadership, "nontraditional values" in the Republic of Moldova will inevitably replace "traditional values." Another video says that Sandu plans, "following Ukraine's example," to gain control over the Orthodox church, specifically to subordinate the Chișinău Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Romanian Orthodox Church. According to the authors of the videos, this would be one of the steps towards the final merger of the Republic of Moldova with Romania. The campaign has launched 10 different videos (4 presented as content from known media and 6 as speeches by university professors) and one fake cover.
The Matryoshka campaign has been actively operating on the X platform since at least September 2023. The first group of accounts, the so-called "seeders," publishes false content on the platform. The second group of accounts, the so-called "quoters," then reposts content published by the "seeders" in response to posts by the media, well-known figures, and fact-checking services. "Quoters" address individuals or organizations, chosen as targets, requesting verification of the authenticity or veracity of the content published by the "seeders." Since September 2023, the operators of the "Matryoshka" campaign have conducted at least 90 consecutive operations, during which they have improved and tested various methods aimed at spreading the content and then bringing it to the attention of targets.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
