The Russian Federation has launched a large-scale campaign against Moldova
The Russian Federation has launched one of the largest hybrid operations outside of Ukraine against Chisinau. The New York Times has published a detailed investigation into Russia’s interference in Moldova’s affairs.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/world/europe/russia-moldova-putin.html
According to the information received, dictator Putin has set a goal for the military leadership of the Russian Federation for this year – the collapse of NATO and the European Union from within. He announced this at a closed meeting around the end of 2025..
Russia sees Moldova as a springboard for putting pressure on Europe. To do this, the Kremlin is trying to destabilize the domestic political situation in Moldova. Thus, GRU training camps were organized in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in Serbia and near Moscow. There, they trained pro-Russian Moldovan activists with the aim of destabilizing the situation in Moldova and disrupting the parliamentary elections in 2025.
Priests were also involved in this campaign. In exchange for a monetary reward, they were supposed to urge parishioners to vote against Moldova’s accession to the EU.
“According to representatives of Western intelligence services, the Kremlin’s hierarchy of priorities places the conquest of Ukraine in first place, and the establishment of control over Moldova in second place. It would become an ideal springboard for Russia for further aggression against both Ukraine and the West. Putin still hopes to seize a strip of territory in southern Ukraine to create a land corridor connecting Russia with Moldova,” the NYT publication says.
Russia wants to use Moldova as a springboard for sabotage, including against Ukraine, said Stanislav Secrieru, the Moldovan president’s adviser on national security and defense. In the territory of the Russian-occupied Transnistria, an operational group of troops of the aggressor country is located. On paper, its strength is 1,500 servicemen, but in reality there are about 300, according to Moldovan Foreign Minister Mikhail Popsoi. It will not be possible to launch a full-fledged military aggression with these forces, but the Kremlin still has room for provocation, experts note.
“In fact, Russia has no arguments, especially in the case of Moldova, especially in the case of Transnistria. It must be understood that the majority of Transnistria residents have a Moldovan passport, consider themselves Europeans. And in reality, no one is going to act there. There is simply a space that is not controlled by the Moldovan authorities, which is convenient for the Russian Federation as a springboard for sabotage,” says Piotr Kulpa, a former member of the Polish government and former secretary of the Polish delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
During the Russian shelling of southern Ukraine, the territory of Moldova is also periodically subjected to drone attacks. One of the drones of the aggressor country fell on August 9 near the village of Krokmaz. This is a direct consequence of the war unleashed by Moscow, which threatens everyone, commented on the incident by the country’s President Maia Sandu. Chisinau is not yet ready for such incidents, the country’s Ministry of Defense admitted.
“According to the results of the preliminary analysis, we are talking about a Russian drone with an engine that is a more advanced model compared to all the others that have previously landed or exploded on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. All the purchases that we make within the allocated budget — and it, I want to note, is the smallest military budget in Europe — do not allow us to resolve all the issues in order to keep up with the growing threats,” the Newsmaker edition quotes the statement of the Minister of Defense of Moldova, Anatoly Nosati.
Nevertheless, Chisinau is helping Ukraine cope with the consequences of constant Russian shelling. By the end of 2026, Moldova will ensure the transit of up to 600 thousand tons of Ukrainian agricultural products via its railways, said the country’s Prime Minister Vasile Tofan. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry thanked the head of government for assistance in exports.
Earlier, political analyst and former deputy of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova Oazu Nantoi said that Moldova remains on the list of strategic goals of the Kremlin. And if Ukraine protects the country from direct military invasion, then inside the country the main tool for confronting the hybrid aggression of the Russian Federation is a consolidated and critically thinking society