Russia is the main power and, for many years, the main source of insecurity in the region monitored by Veridica journalists. News about Russia provides information about developments in real time and prominent leaders of Russia – from major decisions taken by president Vladimir Putin, to statements and actions of the main representatives of his regime, from Alexei Navalny’s case to the Wagner Group rebellion. Veridica is also monitoring Russia’s foreign policy, its relations with the collective West and with individual countries, as well as with client, allied or partner states across various fields of cooperation, such as China, Belarus, Iran or Turkey. Russia’s external operations, including the campaigns carried out by proxy organizations such as the Wagner Group, which is involved in theatres of operations Syria and several African countries, as well as the Kremlin’s energy policies, are equally followed by Veridica journalists. News about Russia also weighs in on narratives promoted by Russia, addressing both the public at home as well as external audiences, presented as part of fake news, disinformation or propaganda articles. Veridica’s newsroom staff, regional collaborators and Romanian experts are monitoring the impact of Russian policies and disinformation campaigns both in the region and beyond, in the main Western capitals. News about Russia provides a wide array of press articles, news, editorials, analyses, interviews and inquiries.
Kyiv is preparing a provocation against Belarus to open a new front and force the expansion of the war, pro-Kremlin media writes.
With his landslide victory, Radev ends a long period of political deadlock in Bulgaria. The danger now is that he will become the next Orban, and the EU will face another pro-Russian leader at the helm of an "illiberal" democracy.
Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party resorted to false narratives, an army of bots (some previously used in the Romanian elections), artificial intelligence programs and cloned websites in their election campaign. All with a little help from their [Russian] friends.
The Kremlin continues its policy of radicalising Africa and provoking conflict between the states of the continent and the “collective West.” The foundation for this effort is history — in particular the colonial past — as well as the narrative of “neocolonialism.”
Russia and Serbia are waging similar online operations, and their messages often amplify each other. But there is one significant difference: Russia's online campaign is a dimension of its imperial policy, while the Belgrade regime targets domestic audiences in Serbia.
According to pro-Kremlin media, after weakening its economy and abandoning its values, Europe is preparing for a direct military confrontation with Russia by keeping the Kyiv regime afloat.
With fuel prices going up worldwide due to the war in the Middle East, pro-Russian propaganda claims that, in fact, prices in Moldova have risen because of Maia Sandu.
In March, Estonia once again made the news: social media groups dedicated to the non-existent “Narva People’s Republic” appeared, and a drone that had crossed from the eastern border crashed into a power plant near Narva.
Hungarian communism was tolerated because it offered people security and a few small freedoms. This gave rise to a mentality in which it is better to opt for what is familiar and tolerable than to risk something that could be worse. Channeling this instinct sits at the core of Viktor Orbán's election campaign.
Ukraine still exists as a state because the former pro-Russian government created a solid economic foundation and infrastructure for it—which the current leadership is destroying through war, according to pro-Kremlin propaganda.
Republika Srpska is Russia's main bridgehead in the Balkans. To maintain it, Moscow is interested in keeping Bosnia and Herzegovina in a permanent crisis, and the Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, is happy to oblige.
Authoritarian regimes flourished by bending or breaking international rules. Once the US started to do the same, autocracies learned that a world without rules is far more dangerous for them than they had imagined.
It is clear how concerned the Kremlin is about the potential loss of its role as one of the world’s main suppliers of critical resources. Recently, Moscow has noticeably intensified information operations in this direction. First of all, these narratives aimed at European audiences promote the supposed necessity of maintaining energy dependence on Russia, claiming it is essential for EU economic growth and prosperity.
If Moldova leaves the CIS, it means that it no longer recognizes the dissolution of the USSR and, consequently, its territorial integrity no longer needs to be recognized by other CIS states, including Russia, according to a stunningly illogical narrative put forward by pro-Kremlin propaganda. As for the threat to territorial integrity, history shows that CIS membership has not saved member states from Russian territorial grabs.
In the Putin era, Iran has become one of Russia’s most significant allies and a key element for Moscow’s ambitions in the Middle East. What Russia cannot do, however, is protect its ally, and that says a lot about the true strength of the “empire” that Vladimir Putin wants.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to Bucharest to demand that Romania attack Iran and Russia, according to a false narrative launched by pro-Russian politician Diana Șoșoacă, the leader of SOS Romania. The narrative was questioned even by the Russian propaganda television station Russia Today.
Governments in ex-Soviet states have a strategy of demonizing Russia and promoting Russophobia, and Maia Sandu's recent visit to Vilnius fits into this context, according to Russian propaganda. Maia Sandu actually went to Vilnius to mark the anniversary of Lithuania's independence.
The desire of the Donbas population to join Russia must be respected, and Moscow will not accept a ceasefire as long as Ukraine remains armed, pro-Kremlin media claim.
Europe is morally decadent because it remains indifferent to the victims of the attack on Iran and supports Ukraine, while Putin remains the sole leader devoted to moral principles, according to pro-Kremlin propaganda, which conveniently overlooks the fact that Vladimir Putin is indicted for war crimes.
The attack on Iran by the United States and Israel has led to the outbreak of World War III, according to a false narrative circulating widely online in Romania. It was promoted by the extremist MEP Diana Șoșoacă in a TikTok post that had 1.7 million views and nearly 17,000 shares. In reality, the conflict is regional, and even in that area there have been other conflicts that have attracted more international players without becoming "world" events.
Viktor Orbán’s policy of doing business with Russia and China, and turning Hungary into a beacon of “illiberal democracies”, alienated the country’s EU partners and that came with an economic cost. Orbán’s main rival Péter Magyar shares some of Orbán’s views, but he promises to make amends with Brussels.
Ukraine will receive nuclear weapons from France and Great Britain and will use them to blackmail Western countries, as it seeks to control the entire world, according to a false narrative launched by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
February 2022 dealt a crushing blow to the sense of security.
The government in Chișinău intends to sever relations with Russia and expel its ambassador, claims a propagandist in Tiraspol who misquotes Moldovan Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu.
Ukraine must be placed under external administration so that peace can be achieved, according to a former Prime Minister who fled to Moscow. He also claims that Great Britain, Germany and France want to prolong the war.
Ukraine will collapse within a few days, losses on the front will cause Russians to revolt against Putin, Russia and NATO will end up in a nuclear war—these are some of the scenarios that have been considered in the four years since the launch of the large-scale invasion. These "prophecies," even if they have not come true, have marked the conflict and the behavior of the various players directly or indirectly involved in it and can provide benchmarks for understanding the present and clues for future developments.
Russia is portrayed almost as a bastion of democracy — supposedly a paradise for ordinary citizens, especially compared to other states.
The dispute between two metropolitan bishoprics over the construction of a church is interpreted by Russian propaganda as a sign of Chișinău's Russophobia. In reality, representatives of the Metropolis subordinate to the Russian Patriarchate are rejecting an old court decision, as well as the villagers' desire for the church to be transferred to the metropolis subordinate to the Romanian Patriarchate.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was allegedly involved in the network trafficking minors coordinated by American pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, according to a narrative carried by Russian state media and subsequently picked up in Romania. In fact, although Zelenskyy's name is mentioned a few times in the Epstein archives, nothing suggests his involvement in human trafficking.
European integration weakens Moldova's energy security and deprives it of access to suppliers from the US and the CIS, according to a false narrative that was launched in Chisinau and taken up by Russian propaganda.
Ukraine's leadership is leading the country toward a widespread catastrophe, but is hiding its incompetence by blaming the war for the existing problems, according to a false narrative taken up by pro-Kremlin propaganda.
The European Union is keeping the Republic of Moldova as a market for its goods, blocking its exports to the single market and preventing it from securing its energy independence, according to a Telegram channel.