As Moldova gears up for a pivotal parliamentary election on Sep. 28, the former Soviet republic is facing a deluge of disinformation and covert financial schemes that threaten to undermine the electoral process.
Each week leading up to the vote, Context.ro will be publishing a round-up of the most important investigations and news stories that highlight how foreign forces – namely Russia – are meddling in the country’s elections.
Last year, Moldovans cast ballots in a presidential election and a referendum on whether the country should join the European Union.
Moldovan authorities alleged that over 130,000 people were paid to vote in favor of the Russia-friendly ballot options, against pro-Western President Maia Sandu and EU accession, with money transferred from Russia. Despite official warnings of the massive Russian-orchestrated campaigns to influence the two votes, Sandu was re-elected, and the referendum narrowly passed.
Exiled pro-Russian oligarch launches cryptocurrency
Ilan Sor, a Moldovan fugitive oligarch who fled the country in 2019 after being implicated and later convicted in a billion-dollar bank fraud, has launched a cryptocurrency that looks designed to facilitate cross-border payments to evade Western sanctions.
An article by journalists at the Financial Times states that the cryptocurrency A7A5 – created by a company majority-owned by the pro-Russian Sor – “appears to be linked to Moscow’s attempts to use cryptocurrencies to fund overseas political influence campaigns.”
Four months after A7A5 was launched, the digital currency has traded approximately $9.3 billion, according to the FT. Officially launched in Kyrgyzstan in February, the cryptocurrency claims to be backed by deposits in Promsvyazbank, a Russian defense sector bank that is under international sanctions.
Domains used in political influence operations in Moldova shared the same IP address with the A7 and A7A5 websites, the article states. Read the full FT article here.
Russian Propaganda with Video Chat Profiles
A vast pro-Russian propaganda network comprising thousands of automatically generated pages and accounts using profile pictures taken from video chat websites is aiming to influence public discourse in Moldova.
An analysis by the WatchDog.md identified 146 anonymous social media pages affiliated with the Moldovan fugitive Ilan Sor, through which he promotes political adverts.
A further 315 anonymous pages from the same network are in „stand-by,” meaning they don’t display their location but are poised and ready to run ads. An analysis of the keywords used for the page names reveals that they are part of a larger network of at least 2,167 Facebook pages, automatically created by the Kremlin to influence political processes in Moldova and other European countries.
In 2024, the Russian Federation heavily financed Facebook ads run via anonymous pages to disseminate disinformation and propaganda in several EU countries during the European Parliament elections.3
According to WatchDog.md, after Sor was subject to sanctions by the US in 2022, the Moldovan fugitive still managed to spend 470,000 euros to promote over 1,400 ads on Facebook by September 1, 2024. Read the Watchdog analysis here.
Vlad Plahotniuc’s Godson Runs Profitable Businesses in Romania
The godson of another Moldovan oligarch implicated in teh vast bank fraud scheme, Vlad Plahotniuc, is running businesses in Romania after withdrawing from Moldovan politics following the fall of Plahotniuc’s regime.
Adrian Candu, former Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament and Vlad Plahotniuc’s godson, is a majority shareholder in two Romanian companies, where he is associated with his former cabinet advisors.
One of the companies, Bizmatters Consulting, is involved in the EU-funded Technical Assistance project for the development of the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Strategy in Moldova, alongside Romanian partners Urban Scope and the Romanian Smart City Association, a report by the outlet Ziarul de Garda stated.4
In 2024, the company, which claims to specialise in “business and management consulting activities,” reported a turnover of 800,000 euros. The development of an e-ticketing system for public transport in Chisinau will be carried out under the umbrella of Urban Scope, a key partner.
Urban Scope has been a beneficiary of public funds since 2016, and to date, has carried out 48 contracts with the state totaling over 4.5 million lei, according to sicap.ai.
Contacted by Context.ro, company representative Radu Dragomir stated that he came to work with Bizmatters Consulting through an association “dedicated to smart city projects” in Moldova and said he had met Adrian Candu only once.
According to Moldovan media, in July 2022, a criminal case for illicit enrichment was opened against Candu.5 This case remains ongoing. Candu’s lawyer stated they hope it will go to court, “because we believe there is no crime.”
Read the full article here.
Russia issues false Moldova travel ban claims
Russia’s foreign ministry accused Moldova in a travel alert sent to citizens of discriminating against Russian citizens, claiming that upon arrival at Chisinau airport, many Russians are “subjected to humiliating inspection procedures” and that dozens are banned from entering.
This claim was quickly debunked by Ziarul de Garda. According to data from Moldovan Border Police, about three Russian citizens per day – not dozens, as stated in the travel alert – are refused entry into the country.
The border police said that the main reasons for denying entry to Russian citizens or other foreign nationals “were identical” and not discriminatory, and listed invalid travel documents, non-compliance with legal entry conditions, and violating visa rules. Read the full article here.