00:00This is apropos. The French president is headed to Moldova this Wednesday along with leaders
00:08from Germany and Poland ahead of parliamentary elections at the end of next month. The show
00:14of support for the EU candidate country comes as it accuses Russia of increasing efforts to
00:20destabilize it by interfering in domestic politics. France 24 correspondent Maria Gerth
00:26Nikolesky reports. These protesters have gathered following the call of pro-Russian oligarch
00:32Ilan Shor. As parliamentary elections draw closer, Moscow-aligned parties are intensifying their
00:39campaign. We came here to express our disagreement with this dictatorial regime imposed by those in
00:46power. There's no other way to call it because today there is no freedom, no freedom of expression.
00:51Ilan Shor has promised illegal financial compensation for demonstrators. Protesters
01:00deny receiving money, but the police regularly document such payments. According to the government,
01:06these rallies are part of a wider Kremlin propaganda campaign to influence the vote.
01:12This activist is trying to counter disinformation through explanatory videos on social media.
01:18His latest video debunks a deepfake featuring the head of the Electoral Commission.
01:24The fact that a country like France intervenes in our elections is not considered foreign interference.
01:30They discredit the Moldovan authorities so that pro-government, pro-European voters won't turn out.
01:41Or so that those who support a pro-East, pro-Kremlin path become furious.
01:51Experts estimate that Russia has invested nearly 100 million euros in its interference campaign in
01:56Moldova, including voter corruption partly financed through cryptocurrencies, according to several
02:02sources.
02:03The money raised through these transactions is used, among other things, to influence Moldovan
02:09elections. Moldova is seen as a secondary target in the war against Ukraine and can be used as a tool
02:16for destabilization.
02:21Moldova began EU accession talks last year. But keeping a pro-European majority in parliament
02:28will be an uphill battle for President Maya Sandu's party.
02:34For more on what's at stake, we're joined now by Clara Voluntiru, Black Sea Regional Director at the German
02:39Marshall Fund of the United States.
02:42Clara, thanks so much for being with us on the programme.
02:45As we say, the French president is among a European delegation headed to Moldova tomorrow.
02:51So what message will Macron, Mertz and Tusk be delivering during the visit?
02:57And who exactly will they be sending this message to?
03:01Good evening. Thank you for joining us in this important conversation, because it is a conversation
03:08about the security of the whole Europe.
03:12Many times we've seen these destabilizing practices piloted in Moldova or in other frontier countries
03:19and then spread across the European Union.
03:22And we've seen this last year at the presidential elections and at the EU referendum.
03:28And then we saw many of those online and offline techniques of destabilization coming up in
03:35the elections in Romania or Germany or France.
03:39So I think what we should be looking ahead for the Moldovan elections and for the message that
03:45the Weimar leaders will be delivering is that Europe stands along the pro-democratic forces
03:53in Moldova and for the European future of Moldova.
03:57And the target audience of these messages, collective messages, are threefold.
04:04One is the Moldovan public that needs to know that Moldova has a strong and consequential
04:12stand along the European powers.
04:16Secondly, the political elites that should know that they will also be part of a pro-European
04:24coalition if they want their country to preserve a European future.
04:29And finally, I think it's also a message for Kremlin to show that Moldova will not be left
04:36aside or on its own devices in the upcoming elections.
04:40And Clara, how significant in the larger picture then is this trip?
04:45You say it's part of a broader strategy being implemented by politicians in key EU member
04:51states.
04:53I think it matters a lot.
04:56There is a very clear block of pro-European voters in Moldova, pro-European supporters, people
05:05who understand the future, their personal future and the future of the country inside the European
05:12family.
05:13But at the same time, there is a majority of Moldovan citizens who haven't yet grasped the
05:20full potential of a European trajectory for their country.
05:23And so when European leaders show up, they show this message of solidarity and dispute any
05:31malign narratives that Moldovan citizens are left aside, that they don't matter for the
05:37European, for Western European and European powers.
05:41So when you have Ursula von der Leyen, when you have the European enlargement commissioner, Marta
05:47Kos, when you have the Weimar Triangle leaders, President Macron, Chancellor Mertz and
05:54Prime Minister Tusk.
05:57And when you have a very strong engagement from neighboring Romania with the newly elected
06:03president, very strong on the societal resilience part, Nico Chordain.
06:09All of these stances matter for the Moldovan public and again, for building a pro-European
06:15coalition after the coming elections.
06:18And Moldova, it's essentially been tugged between East and West for decades now.
06:22What exactly is Russia's main objective here?
06:25And how does it go about interfering in political processes and elections?
06:32Moldova matters along the full side of the European frontier.
06:38So if you would have, again, a pro-Russian government in Moldova, then the offensive against
06:46Ukraine would be much easier, given that you would have a much lower resistance across
06:53the eastern part of the country.
06:56I think this is a whole of Europe security stance.
07:01And not incidentally, the Weimar Triangle leaders have gathered to discuss the future of Ukraine
07:07in Rome this summer.
07:09And not incidentally, President Macron has had the first meeting of the European political
07:14community in Chisinau a couple of years ago.
07:17So I think European leaders are very mindful of the fact that countering Russia's aggression
07:24towards not just Ukraine, but the whole of Europe, is a process that has to unfold across
07:32the full eastern frontier, including Moldova.
07:35And what is the government there doing to fight back against these destabilization efforts?
07:40The goal has always been to delegitimize the European trajectory, to delegitimize the European
07:52political, the pro-European political leaders and the European political leaders that support
07:57President Maia Sando.
07:59So many of the Russian narratives have been targeting these actors and have tried to show that actually
08:07Moldova is better off in a, let's say, in-between status.
08:13On the other side, countering these narratives is very intuitive, if you want.
08:19The economic prosperity of Moldova is better served in a European trajectory.
08:26The rule of law and good governance are better served through the reforms that go hand in hand
08:32with its future as a pre-accession process.
08:36So there are many benefits to the average citizens that these political stance of President Maia
08:43Sando and the past government have delivered.
08:46However, they were not always well articulated.
08:50And so the Russian-backed networks that the reporter was mentioning, the Ilan Shore clientelistic
08:57networks have been very able and have managed to sway voters who are undecided or, let's say,
09:07less integrated into the overall processes of reform and investments that the country has
09:15been undergoing over the past years.
09:17And is all of this a big talking point in Moldova ahead of these elections?
09:22Is this something that voters are focusing on, are prioritizing ahead of the vote?
09:27There is always a rational component and an emotional component.
09:35And where we see a very strong penetration of the pro-Russian Ilan Shore-backed networks,
09:42it's usually in rural areas, in secondary cities, in small communities, in the neighborhood.
09:49And I think it's not only through the clientelistic networks that are fueled by enormous amounts
09:57of money delivered from Kremlin via different mechanisms, but it's also this sense of detachment
10:06from the center that mayors and local communities sometimes have.
10:10And that's paradoxical in a country that's not necessarily very large.
10:15So there is a case to be made with regards to a better stakeholder coordination, a structured
10:22dialogue where people feel that they are part of Moldova's future and it's not just decided
10:28for them.
10:29I think that's the main weakness that the pro-Russian narratives are trying to emphasize
10:36in support of the pro-Russian political parties.
10:39Clara, thanks so much for being with us on the program.
10:42We'll have to leave it there for now.
10:44That is Clara Volentiro, Black Sea Regional Director at the German Marshall Fund of the United
10:49States.
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