This e-Note examines Russia’s hybrid interference in Moldova’s recent electoral cycles, focusing on the strategy of ‘poverty weaponisation’. Since the 1990s, Moscow has leveraged energy dependence, political influence and the unresolved Transnistria conflict to limit Moldova’s Western integration. These tactics intensified after 2022, combining disinformation campaigns and electoral bribery with exploiting structural vulnerabilities such as rising poverty and societal polarisation. Central to this effort was a network which deployed financial inducements, AI-generated propaganda and paid activism, to sway voters during the 2024 constitutional referendum and subsequent elections. These pressures prompted Moldova to adopt emergency measures and legislative reforms to counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI). The analysis unpacks the concept of FIMI poverty weaponisation creating a fertile ground for Russian influence. While Moldova’s context is unique, elements of this FIMI toolbox are already being replicated in other post-Soviet states, as well as in regions beyond the EU’s direct neighbourhood, signalling a broader pattern of hybrid warfare aimed at undermining Western influence.
Download e-Note 84Research lines: Europe; Eurasia
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e-Note 84
Russian Interference Through “Poverty Weaponisation” in Moldovan Elections
Denis CENUSA & Giulia PRELZ OLTRAMONTI