Moldova is risking a referendum to endorse its path towards the EU despite pressure from Putin to avoid it

The latest evidence is incontestable.

The reporter Măriuța Nistorfrom the independent newspaper Ziarul de Gardăinfiltrated the recruitment networks to investigate the operation of a pyramid scheme that begins in Moscow and ends in the lowest classes of the system, or in herself: In her brief time in the organization, the reporter collected 30,000 rubles (approximately 300 euros) in two transfers from a Russian state bank.

This same month, the authorities have dismantled a web of bribery that corrupted the will of some 130,000 Moldovans in a country where the average salary is 280 euros, and where there are 3.2 million people called to vote, almost a million of them in abroad—many, in Spain, France, the United Kingdom and Italy. “The stories we have just published have made our lives a little more difficult now,” the director of Ziarul de Gardă, Alina Radu. Their investigations have led to arrests at an unknown rate. “Now, naturally, we have some concerns.”

In Moldova, journalism is carried out with few resources and amid threats from criminal groups and oligarchs. They are often, or almost always, connected to the Kremlin.

Moldova has been governed since December 2020 by Maia Sandu, a woman with international experience who came to power with a party founded in 2016—Action and Solidarity Party—and two promises: cleanse the country of corruption and bring it closer to its Romanian brothers and the European Union. In both cases, it means moving away from Putin’s Russia, something that is not inconsequential when in a part of your territory, the independent and partially independent region of Transnistria, bordering Ukraine, the authorities are extensions of the Kremlin and there are thousands of Russian troops. installed and with no intention of leaving.

Sandu, with the support of the European community, especially Paris, called a referendum for this October 20 where Moldovans will decide whether or not they agree with modifying the Constitution so that accession to the Union is “a clear and priority objective.” ” of the Moldovan State, a candidate for integration since June 2022. The popularity of the current president and some surveys suggest that the majority of citizens are for the work. The latest survey by iData Inteligente estimates that two out of every three Moldovans want to vote, and that at least 55% will do so to support the European pathin contrast to the 32% who oppose it.

The data is impressive in a poorly industrialized country, intoxicated with tons of Russian disinformation and fearful of being the next Ukraine. “When Sandu called this referendum about ten months ago, I was skeptical,” the journalist tells me. Paula Erizanua committed disseminator of her country’s opening efforts in the British newspaper Guardian or in Russian Novaya Gazeta. “Now I see a window of opportunity to give our all, break with our gray Soviet past and integrate into the union of peace and prosperity that is the European Union.”

Sandu herself, who called the referendum for the same day as the presidential elections to guarantee high participation, fuels this idea. “October 20 is an important moment for our entire family,” he explained, in a message addressed to the Moldovan diaspora, to whom he also trusts massive support in the presidential elections to avoid a second round. “It is a day to vote and not have to wait 30 more years”.

The Kremlin’s missteps are, therefore, everywhere. “It is the most demanding time I have ever known to dismantle all the hoaxes, to expose people how Moscow is coming to Moldova to compromise our path towards development, towards Europe…”, the director of Ziarul de Gardă. Russian propaganda outlets are powerful and insistent, spreading lies such as that entry into the Union would mean the expropriation of farmland and its handing over to foreign powers. These messages resonate in a society where almost half of the citizens live off the countryside.

“I hope people understand the importance of their vote so that Moldova is a free country, and not a country controlled by Moscow”Radu continues, in a sorrowful tone. “My sources tell me that we can expect problems in the Gaugazia region [en el sur]and the inhabitants of Transnistria have the right to vote, and there will be mobilizations, and we will have an eye on what happens in Russia, so all this at the same time ensures a challenging scenario, yes, but I do not lose hope that one day Moldova will improve.”