Moldova: Russia accused of meddling in elections
Russia is using a range of tools—from vote-buying and online propaganda to funding protests—to destabilize Moldova and undermine its pro-European course, according to security and public policy experts.
The experts told Radio Moldova they were confirming the seriousness of the situation described on 24 September by Prime Minister Dorin Recean, who publicly accused Russia of orchestrating a complex operation of corruption, manipulation, and intimidation to change the outcome of an election.
They said Moldova was facing a "crucial test" for its democracy.
Security expert Pavel Horea, speaking on Radio Moldova’s "Zi de Zi" show, said Russia was "blatantly meddling in the electoral process and attempting to influence it through all available means."
Mr Horea said the prime minister’s statements were a clear signal to both citizens and the Kremlin that Moldova’s democracy and citizens’ freedoms were facing a major challenge.
The expert warned there was a risk of violent protests and cyber-attacks on election day.
"There are several risks," he said. "We could see massive cyber-attacks on election day to try to block the Central Electoral Commission's activity, or to block the publication of results, or to block data updates on the number of citizens who participated in the vote. The ultimate goal is to sow distrust and suspicion among the populace, suggesting authorities might alter the election results."
Sorin Ioniță, Executive Director of Expert Forum Romania, said Russia's involvement had "nothing in common with a normal political competition."
Mr Ioniță said buying votes on a massive scale was "not an election campaign; it's something else entirely—it's the demolition of democracy." He said the Moldovan authorities were right to say so.
"To what extent can Europeans help with this?" he asked. "For them, it's a relatively new situation; you don't face these kinds of things in the UK, in France, or in Germany. Irregularities happen during voting, campaigns are run, lies are told—politicians lie there too—but large-scale vote buying, tens of millions of dollars invested in such an operation, because this isn't a campaign, it's an operation to demolish democracy. My impression is that no one has a very good methodology for how to fight something like this. So, we're pioneering," he said.
Prime Minister Dorin Recean stated on Wednesday that Russia was attempting to undermine the 28 September electoral process through subversive actions and destabilisation plans, with the goal of seizing power in Chişinău.
He stressed that "the state of Moldova is resilient and that its authorities will thwart the Russian plan for occupation."
Translation by Iurie Tataru
