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Headline: From bomb threats to crypto-wallets: Inside Russia’s hybrid war in Moldova
Short Summary: President Maia Sandu revealed extensive Russian hybrid warfare in Moldova during 2024-2025 elections, including fake bomb threats and crypto-financing, warning Europe of Kremlin tactics.
Extended Summary: In a recent interview, Moldovan President Maia Sandu disclosed extensive hybrid warfare efforts by Russia targeting Moldova’s 2024 presidential and 2025 parliamentary elections. These activities encompass illicit political party funding, voter bribery, and orchestrated fake bomb threat campaigns aimed at intimidating the Moldovan diaspora abroad to hinder voting participation. A major element involves cryptocurrency, with investigators uncovering roughly €107 million in a Russian-linked crypto wallet used to evade traditional banking oversight and fuel destabilization in real time. Sandu warned that Moldova is effectively a testing ground for Kremlin ambitions that ultimately aim to undermine democracy throughout Europe. She highlighted the challenge EU citizens face in identifying covert disinformation actors and emphasized Moldova’s EU integration as critical for democratic survival. The President stressed that the recent elections' decisive message was that Moldovans, not external forces, will determine their future sovereignty amid worsening regional instability driven by Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
President Maia Sandu of Moldova issued a stern warning to European democracies, calling Moldova a 'testing ground' for Russia's hybrid warfare tactics. In an interview with The Telegraph, Sandu exposed an unprecedented scale of Kremlin interference in Moldova’s 2024 presidential and 2025 parliamentary elections involving illicit financial flows, information manipulation, and coordinated fake bomb threats targeting the Moldovan diaspora to suppress overseas voting. Investigators discovered approximately €107 million laundered through a single Russian-linked cryptocurrency wallet, highlighting the Kremlin's use of sophisticated cryptofinancial tools to fund destabilization efforts. Sandu emphasized that while these operations are overt in Moldova, they are more subtle within the EU, complicating detection. She affirmed Moldova's strategic push toward EU membership as a vital path for safeguarding democracy amid regional volatility caused by Russia's war in Ukraine and stated that Moldovans decisively chose self-determination in recent elections.
The article clearly reports Russian hostile actions against Moldova’s democratic process including election interference and covert financial subversion, with explicit references to Kremlin tactics and funding. No defensive response by allied or Moldovan authorities is described beyond statements from the Moldovan President.
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