Yahoo News has obtained an internal Kremlin document detailing the Kremlin’s plan to destabilize the Republic of Moldova, which was developed before the invasion of Ukraine last year.

The document was developed by the Office of the President of Ukraine for Border Cooperation, the same Kremlin agency that developed a similar strategy regarding Moscow’s plans to annex Belarus.

A source who provided Yahoo News with a document on the strategy for the Republic of Moldova says it was drawn up in the fall of 2021, as was the plan for Belarus, with the participation of the Russian General Staff and Moscow’s top intelligence services. : FSB, GRU and SVR.

The introductory part of the document talks about “countering the attempts of some external actors (mainly the USA, the countries of the European Union, the Republic of Turkey and Ukraine) to intervene in the internal problems of the Republic of Moldova in order to strengthen the influence of NATO and weaken the positions of the Russian Federation.”

Moscow’s Chisinau strategy calls for the Republic of Moldova to join the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, President Vladimir Putin’s military alliance, which also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The plan also aims to “neutralize” any actions by the Moldovan government to oust the Russian military presence from Transnistria.

Russia planned to return the Republic of Moldova to its sphere of control

Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recan, who took office last month, confirmed after investigative journalists showed him the document in his office in Chisinau last week that it reflected what he and many liberals in the government suspected or knew.

“The Russians have tried for a long time to ensure that the Republic of Moldova has no sovereignty over its foreign policy,” he told Yahoo News. Before his appointment as prime minister, Rechan was the national security adviser to President Maia Sandu.

David Cramer, a former Washington State Department official consulted by reporters on the content of the plan, said that “although Moldova is hardly recognized as a separate state, this document treats Moldova as a collapsible satellite over which Russia can exercise control and influence.” .

“This is a typical attitude of the Kremlin towards all its neighbors and emphasizes the goals of maintaining a well-controlled sphere of influence,” he added.

3 sections of Moscow’s plan to destabilize Chisinau

The plan for the Republic of Moldova drawn up in Moscow is divided into 3 separate categories: political, military and defense sectors; humanitarian sector; and the commercial and economic sector.

Each section provides specific goals that the authors of the document would like to achieve in the short term (by 2022), medium term (by 2025) and long term (by 2030).

For the last target year, the document states that “stable pro-Russian influence groups among the political and economic elites” should already exist in the Republic of Moldova.

The Russian strategy involves not only interfering in the elections in Chisinau by supporting some actors, such as the fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor or former president Ihor Dodon, but also manipulating civil society and public opinion in the Republic of Moldova by “neutralizing attempts to limit the activities of Russian media and pro-Russian media in Moldova” and “creation of a network of non-governmental organizations that contribute to the development of Russian-Moldovan relations”.

Russia would like this system of public organizations to be active in all spheres of social and economic life, the document defines 2025 as the year of its creation.

Russia was making plans for the Republic of Moldova before the invasion of Ukraine

Interestingly, the document provides guidance on expanding opportunities for students in the Republic of Moldova to receive education in Russian, a clear indication that the document was developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, including pointing to distance education as a viable way to achieve this. goal.

Vlad Lupan, the former ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to the UN, told Yahoo News that “as a university professor who taught online during the quarantine, I should have predicted this: Russia has now realized that it can recruit people into its system.” public education via Zoom.”

“For years, I did not pay attention to Russian propaganda and Russian TV presenters, who were always present here. And when we started contacting them, the propaganda moved to Telegram, Facebook, VKontakte, and TikTok. There is nothing we can do about Telegram and TikTok except cut the cord. After 30 years of propaganda, we are seeing the consequences now,” Prime Minister Dorin Rechan also said.

“When people are afraid, they say, ‘ok, the Russian bear is too big for us.’ Maybe he and I will somehow come to an agreement and come to an agreement, and he won’t touch us.” I would be very happy for the people of Moldova to see this document,” said the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova.

Yahoo News notes that the received document is the result of a collaboration of several websites and media from Europe: Delfi Estonia, Swedish newspaper Expressen, Dossier Center from London, Kyiv Independent, Rise Moldova, FrontStory, VSquare, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) and Norddeutscher Rundfunk.

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