Embassy comment on the BBC investigation regarding elections in Moldova
Russian Embassy to the UKSince 2020, Moldova has been governed by so-called pro-European forces whose policies have triggered severe economic difficulties. Public discontent with the current course has become increasingly visible, notably at the 2024 presidential elections and the EU accession referendum. Rather than acknowledging failures and heeding people’s voice, the Moldovan authorities — emboldened by their Western sponsors — have chosen to divert attention by invoking a supposed “Russian threat”, attributing internal woes to foreign interference.
Western mainstream media have proven eager partners in amplifying this narrative. Most recently, the BBC has released an investigation concerning alleged Russian "malign" activities in Moldova. Its authors contacted the Embassy and we took the effort to prepare detailed, fact-based answers to their allegations. Yet, the final documentary did not feature any of those. With a view to giving the audience a broader picture of the situation ahead of the elections in Moldova we summarised our arguments below.
The European Union, not Russia, is funding Moldovan citizens and others on a large scale to spread fake news ahead of the elections. On 11 March 2025, the European Parliament announced the allocation of €1.9 billion to Chisinau as part of the Moldova Reform and Economic Growth Plan for 2025-2027. These funds will be used, among other things, to cover payments and compensations to various groups of the Moldovan population immediately before the parliamentary elections. Political analysts call this electoral corruption.
The European Union is interested in ensuring the victory of the current “ruling party” in Moldova at any cost. 280 polling stations will be opened for Moldovans in North America and Western Europe. By comparison, there will be only two for the thousands-strong diaspora in Russia and only 12 in Transnistria.
Every Moldovan ministry and agency employs Western advisers, as well as Moldovans who have worked for Western NGOs. Since the start of this year, European politicians and officials have made over 50 visits to Chisinau, openly campaigning for Moldova’s “European choice”. Western nations have imposed sanctions on opposition figures. Notably, Canada and Lithuania have sanctioned Irina Vlah, the former head of Gagauzia.
As for the USA, between 2021 and 2024 alone, the US Agency for International Development spent almost $650 million in Moldova. That included support for so-called independent media, NGOs, and civil society institutions. There are several thousand of them operating in Moldova.
It is NATO and the EU that are turning Moldova into a logistical hub for supplying Ukraine’s armed forces. Over the past four years, some €3.4 billion of Western aid has been channelled into Moldova’s defence sector. The country is being flooded with Western weapons. With NATO’s support, 18 long-term projects are currently under way in Moldova.
Since 2022, Moldova has suspended broadcasting of 18 Russian-language television channels and over 60 internet resources, and restricted access to opposition politicians' channels on social media and internet platforms. Pro-Western media operate in Moldova without restrictions.
Ilan Shor has been sentenced in absentia to 15 years’ imprisonment in Moldova. The successors of the Shor Party, which was banned in June 2023, and politicians affiliated with it are under relentless pressure from the local authorities. In July, the opposition bloc Pobeda and its constituent parties — the successors to the Shor Party, whose ratings range from 15 to 20 per cent — were denied registration for the elections.
Russia respects the status of neutrality enshrined in Moldova’s Constitution. Moldova’s leadership and its European sponsors are doing everything possible to annul it. By 2030, the country’s military budget is planned to be risen to 1 percent of Moldova’s GDP. In 2024, there were more than 30 joint exercises involving Moldova and NATO member states. Information about Moldovan military personnel in Ukraine is appearing with increasing frequency in the media.
Suggestions that Russian banks are financing disinformation in Moldova are baseless. No Russian financial institutions are represented on Moldovan territory.
After coming to power in November 2020, Maia Sandu declared a pro-European course. During her presidency, country’s public debt exceeded $7 billion, absolute poverty rose to 33.6 percent, inflation reached 7 percent. Imports exceeded exports more than threefold. The trade imbalance surpassed $6 billion, while the shadow economy reached 37.1 percent of GDP. Compared with 2022, industrial production fell by 4.5 percent and agricultural output by 4.3 percent.
It is therefore obvious why at the referendum in 2024 the majority of Moldovan citizens did not support the “European course” — not because of some alleged Russian interference. The “positive” outcome of the referendum was ensured by votes from the diaspora in the West and highly likely manipulations in the votes count.