The Russian Federation has interfered in the elections in the Republic of Moldova through vote buying and manipulation of the electorate online. This was discussed by the President of Romania, Nicușor Dan, during his official visit to Austria, where he also answered questions about Russian interference in the elections in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, reports IPN.
According to the Romanian president, over time an online network of websites has been built that attracted different categories of people on various topics – from sports to medicine and esotericism. And in the November and May elections, these sites acted in one direction. “There is a strong suspicion that it is about interference from a state that can only be Russia, especially since this happens in several European countries,” said the leader from Bucharest, quoted by Antena 3.
Nicusor Dan further stated that during the presidential elections in May, in Romania, there was a very strong reaction from the Romanian society, which became aware of the danger of this external interference.
Regarding the elections in Moldova, the President of Romania states that, beyond the cyber attacks and influence on social networks, networks of people involved in vote buying have been identified. “There are several thousand cases proven by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Moldova,” emphasized Nicușor Dan, specifying that “all these conspiracies and fake news have an effect when people do not trust the authorities, when they harbor a sense of anger towards them and tend to believe anything that is against the authority.”
To combat these attacks on the technical dimension, the Romanian president says that “for a fake news, we must react within 30 minutes”, so as to prevent its spread.