Europe Should Support Moldova Against Russian Meddling
Moldova’s pro-Western governing party gained a clear parliamentary majority in this weekend’s elections, choosing European alignment amid “unprecedented pressure, disinformation, and interference from the Kremlin.” Although the results advance Moldova’s EU integration path and deliver a short-term blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hybrid warfare, the struggle is not over.
Moldova has become a geopolitical battleground between Russia and the West, and Putin will continue his efforts to influence it. As former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill might say, when it comes to Russia’s latest chapter of meddling, Moldova’s election is “only the end of the beginning.”
Moldova’s pro-Western governing party gained a clear parliamentary majority in this weekend’s elections, choosing European alignment amid “unprecedented pressure, disinformation, and interference from the Kremlin.” Although the results advance Moldova’s EU integration path and deliver a short-term blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hybrid warfare, the struggle is not over.
Moldova has become a geopolitical battleground between Russia and the West, and Putin will continue his efforts to influence it. As former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill might say, when it comes to Russia’s latest chapter of meddling, Moldova’s election is “only the end of the beginning.”
European support was crucial in helping Moldova hold free and fair elections in the face of Russian interference. But it’s too soon to grow complacent. European leaders can do more to support Moldova’s European integration: support Moldovan investigations into Russian illicit financings, fund a more resilient Moldovan power grid, and ultimately offer Moldova a faster path to EU accession.
The pro-EU Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) secured 50.1 percent of the vote and a parliamentary majority, defeating the pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc that captured 24.2 percent. The Russia-friendly........
© Foreign Policy
