Lies, bribes and interference: Kremlin’s hybrid war overshadows Moldova’s EU referendum

European officials say disinformation campaigns and vote-buying schemes risk undermining the integrity of the 20 October ballot.

Transcript

00:00Is Russia hijacking Moldova's EU referendum?

00:09On the 20th of October, Moldovans will vote in a presidential election and a referendum

00:14on EU membership. A yes for accession to the European Union would affirm the country's

00:20pro-European path. But Moldovan authorities are warning that Kremlin-backed actors are

00:26using hybrid warfare to subvert the ballot, including by depositing money directly into

00:33Moldovans' bank accounts to buy their anti-EU vote.

00:40Checkpoint Research has uncovered how malicious actors are using email campaigns to try to

00:46sway Moldovans' vote and prepare the ground for malware attacks. This counterfeit document

00:53claiming to come from the European Commission was circulated to Moldovan civil servants

00:58in August. It alleges that joining the European Union would oblige them to take a mandatory

01:04English proficiency exam to keep their jobs and that an LGBTQ plus flag would be raised

01:11at ministry buildings 12 days per year. Another document purporting to come from the European

01:17Prosecutor asks Moldovan officials to share their personal data on a form hosted on an

01:23attacker-controlled domain purporting to be an official EU site. The linguistic errors

01:30made in the communications and the metadata of the PDF documents strongly suggest Russian

01:36authorship. But despite these hybrid attacks, the chair of the European Parliament's Moldovan

01:42delegation says that the Kremlin will not derail the Eastern European country's democracy.

01:49It is clear that Russia cannot interfere more than we can support the Republic of Moldova.