Russia is expanding hostilities in Ukraine, but that is not the aggressor’s only goal, and for years Moscow has been looking for ways to further strengthen its influence in Moldova, the media Kyiv Independent has investigated in cooperation with a group of international journalists.
According to the documents obtained by the media, Russia plans to take control of Moldova by 2030. An anonymous source in the Western intelligence services said that the Kremlin already prepared the document «Strategic goals of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova» in 2021.
Russia’s plan calls for Russian media to be widely represented and for Russian to become the official language of Moldova.
One of the so-called realistic goals is «counter the attempts of external actors to interfere in the internal affairs of Moldova, strengthen the influence of NATO, and weaken the positions of Russia».
Moldova’s neighbor Romania, other European Union countries and the US are considered external agents.
Most of Russia’s short-term goals, which were to be achieved by 2022, were delayed by Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This made Moldova, Ukraine’s neighbor, look more closely in the direction of the European Union. In June 2022, the Council of Europe announced that Moldova was granted the status of an EU candidate country.
Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said his country was aware of Russia’s efforts to seize power in the country and added that the biggest threat was not military. It is Russia’s economic and political pressure that is a cause for concern.
Politicians from pro-Russian communist and socialist parties have been in power for the past 20 years. In 2020, Maia Sandu was elected as the president of Moldova, and her policy is directed toward the west. The Party of Action and Solidarity led by Sandu won the parliamentary elections in 2021.
When journalists presented the document created by Russia to the Prime Minister of Moldova at the beginning of March, he pointed out that the greatest concern is Russia’s plans to influence the country’s culture and education spheres. He said:
«They want to increase the number of Russian non-profit organizations here, they want to increase the number of students, they want more language presence here. They want to increase the capacity of their media here.»
In addition to the economic impact, the plan envisages that the people of Moldova would feel a strong presence of the Russian media and that the Russian language should become the main language of communication among the population of different nationalities. Russian non-governmental organizations would take care of the presence of Russian culture.
Among the short-term goals that Russia has failed to implement are efforts to prevent restrictions on Russian media. At the end of 2022, the Moldovan government banned the broadcasting of six Russian channels. However, the Prime Minister pointed out that the fight against propaganda is difficult because its distribution now takes place on social networks.
In 2022, the war brought Moldova closer to the West, while Russia desperately tries to maintain its influence and is ready to use all kinds of means. In February, Sanda accused Russia of plotting a coup.
She stated: «The plan included militarily trained people disguised as civilians to carry out violent actions, attacks on government buildings, and taking hostages.»
Lately, there have been anti-government protests in Moldova, and on Sunday, March 12, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Chisinau.
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