Moldovan President Maia Sandu told lawmakers in the European Parliament on Tuesday that her country faces a “race against time” as she accused Russia of mounting a wide-ranging "hybrid war" to influence Moldova’s Sept. 28 parliamentary elections and block its path toward European Union membership.
Speaking in Strasbourg, Sandu said Moscow’s efforts included disinformation, vote-buying and illicit party funding, and that the Kremlin sought to "capture Moldova through the ballot box, to use us against Ukraine, and to turn us into a launchpad for hybrid attacks on the European Union." She called the upcoming vote "the most consequential" in the small country's history and said the outcome would determine whether Moldova becomes a stable democracy or is pulled back into Russia's orbit. "If our democracy cannot be protected, then no democracy in Europe is safe," Sandu said.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola met with Sandu and told the chamber she was "deeply impressed by your determination, courage, and steadfast commitment to Moldova’s people," saying the parliament stands united in support of Moldova’s European path. The chamber planned to debate a resolution on increasing Moldova’s resilience to Russian "hybrid threats and malign interference" on Tuesday and vote on it on Wednesday.
Siegfried Muresan, chair of the European Parliament’s delegation to Moldova, described Moldova as "a priority for EU security, not just EU enlargement," and said Brussels should begin accession negotiations on the first cluster of Moldova’s accession process. Leaders from France, Germany and Poland recently visited Moldova to mark the country’s 34th independence anniversary in a show of backing for its Western orientation.
Moldova applied for EU membership following Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in 2022 and was granted candidate status the same year. Brussels agreed last year to open accession negotiations. Sandu’s Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), which she founded in 2016, won a clear majority in the 2021 parliamentary elections but faces the risk of losing that majority in next month’s vote; observers say there are few clear pro-European alternatives on the ballot.
Sandu said the intensification of alleged Kremlin tactics reflected concerns in Moscow about Moldova’s progress toward the EU. "Precisely because we have advanced greatly on this path, Russia has unleashed its full arsenal of hybrid attacks against us," she said, calling the electoral campaign "the battlefield." Moscow has repeatedly denied meddling in Moldova’s internal affairs.
Sandu’s remarks came a day after Romanian authorities arrested a 47-year-old former senior official of Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Services on alleged treason charges. Romanian prosecutors said the arrest was linked to a broader spy network that Czech counterintelligence has said was being built in Europe by Belarus. Romanian prosecutors alleged the Moldovan suspect disclosed state secrets to Belarusian intelligence officers that could "endanger national security." Belarus is a close ally of Russia and has allowed its territory to be used for operations connected to Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Muresan said Belarus has acted as a Russian "satellite" in the war against Ukraine and called the presence of Belarus and Russian influence in the region a direct threat to European democracies. Sandu warned that Russia’s objective was not only to influence a single vote but to use a captured Moldova as a platform for operations against the European Union.
Last year’s domestic votes that reaffirmed Moldova’s EU trajectory were accompanied by widespread claims of Russian interference, which Moscow denied. Observers and Moldovan officials have expressed concern that the mix of disinformation campaigns, covert funding and alleged espionage could undermine public trust in institutions and the integrity of the Sept. 28 ballot.
The European Parliament’s pending resolution is expected to call for strengthened support for Moldova’s EU path and measures to bolster the country’s resilience to external interference. The vote will come as European officials watch whether Moldova’s electorate will solidify a pro-European course or shift toward parties more aligned with Russia, choices that regional leaders say carry implications for security in Eastern Europe and for the broader European project.