Inside Russia’s Moldova plot: GRU-linked camps and cash to disrupt elections

Russia mounted an extensive campaign to interfere in Moldova’s elections, using military intelligence-linked training camps, vote-buying networks, cyberattacks and religious figures to undermine the country’s pro-Western government, The New York Times reported.The campaign was aimed at weakening President Maia Sandu and her pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), according to the NYT report, which was based on interviews with Moldovan officials, activists, Western intelligence officials and a review of thousands of documents.Moldova, a country of about three million people located between Ukraine and NATO members Romania, has become a major target for the Kremlin as it pursues closer ties with the European Union.According to the news outlet, Russian operatives established training camps in Serbia, Bosnia and near Moscow, where Moldovan recruits were taught tactics including breaking through police cordons, setting buildings on fire and handling weapons. Some participants trained with assault rifles while wearing camouflage and flak jackets.Two Western intelligence officials told the outlet that the Moscow camp was overseen by Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU. Moldovan prosecutors said participants were also trained to use incendiary devices, homemade explosives and drones equipped to carry explosives or start fires.One recruit who attended a camp in Bosnia later told a Moldovan court that a Russian trainer punched him after he refused to participate in some activities, according to the report.Vote-buying operationThe Kremlin-linked campaign also relied heavily on money and social media.The NYT reported that fugitive Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor, who lives in Russia, oversaw a sophisticated network designed to influence voters and organise protests against Sandu and Moldova’s EU ambitions.Documents reviewed by the news outlet indicated that more than 150,000 Moldovans were recruited into the network. Payments to 38,000 activists reportedly totalled nearly $20 million in the four months preceding Moldova’s 2024 referendum on EU membership.The operation allegedly used about 240 Telegram chatbots to recruit and coordinate participants. Recruits were instructed to post anti-EU material online, attend demonstrations and encourage voters to oppose Sandu’s party.The European Union sanctioned several Moldovans linked to Shor’s operations in June, including political activist Iuri Vitneanski.Priests recruited to spread Russian narrativesRussia’s campaign also extended into Moldova’s Orthodox religious community.According to the news report, hundreds of Moldovan priests travelled to Russia from 2024, where some received Russian bank cards and payments in exchange for promoting messages opposing EU membership and Moldova’s pro-Western policies.Some priests subsequently delivered anti-EU messages from their pulpits. The report cited one sermon in which a priest warned that closer relations with Europe would bring social and moral changes he portrayed as threatening to Moldova.Moldovan officials told the news outlet that hundreds of priests accepted payments.Election interference thwartedThe various efforts converged around Moldova’s parliamentary election on September 28, 2025.Russian-linked operatives trained in Serbia were allegedly prepared to provoke violence, while hackers targeted Moldova’s Central Election Commission and thousands of personal routers, according to Moldovan officials cited by the media outlet.Moldovan authorities responded with raids and arrests, while cybersecurity specialists, assisted by Western partners, helped block the hacking campaign.Despite the interference efforts, Sandu’s PAS won more than 50% of the vote, aided significantly by Moldova’s diaspora.However, Moldovan officials said Russia’s campaign had still imposed substantial financial and security costs on the country.The Kremlin has denied accusations that it interferes in Moldova’s domestic affairs. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry P