BIG STORY – Deepfake, kompromat, vote buying… Russia’s unprecedented efforts to rig the election of this neighbor of Ukraine.
Special envoy to Chisinau and Comrat
Some 130,000 people paid between 46 and 93 euros to vote « non » in the referendum on membership of the European Union… The operation cost Moscow 15 million dollars and affected around 5% of the Moldovan population. However, it is only one example of the myriad of techniques, involving hundreds of millions of dollars, used by Russia to destabilize Moldova, a small country neighboring Ukraine and which, since the latter’s invasion in 2022, has become a strategic player in the region.
While, on October 20, both a presidential election will be held – in which the outgoing pro-European and anti-Russian president Maia Sandu is the favorite – and a referendum on membership of the EU, Moscow is committing more than 10 million euros per month since January in political interference operations in Moldova according to local security sources.  
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