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.
Moldovans in Romania might renounce the Union of Romanian Principalities of 1859, due to the aggressive Romanianization policy promoted by Bucharest in the Republic of Moldova, a so-called political theorist from Transnistria says.
Videos of opposition activists confessing trumped up crimes and praising Aleksandr Lukashenko have been increasingly used in Belarus.
From hardliner Dmitri Medvedev’s wine to raw materials for the arms industry, Russian imports are transiting Latvia in spite of the latter’s hawkish stance towards Moscow.
According to pro-Kremlin propaganda, Ukraine cannot exist without Russia, and the political elites in Kyiv are made up of non-Ukrainians who want to destroy the country.
Political parties in Estonia are trying to deprive Russian speakers of the right to vote and to kick out of the country the Russian Orthodox Church, seen as a Kremlin mouthpiece.
Chiar sub privirea UE și după ani de potențiale reforme, democrația Bulgariei devine tot mai mult una de fațadă, dominată de partidul lui Boiko Borissov și de „sistem”.
The proposed amendments to Romania's National Defense Law gave rise to disinformation narratives fostered by Russian propaganda and pro-Russians in the Republic of Moldova.
The administration of the autonomous territorial unit of Găgăuzia in the south of the Republic of Moldova seems to be the latest instrument Russia will use to hinder the European accession of the Republic of Moldova.
Whereas Ukrainian politicians need the war to stay in power, Russia contributes to preserving the sovereignty of Ukraine in the face of threats caused by NATO.
Bosnia and Herzegovina will start EU accession negotiations 30 years after the end of the civil war. The country has made little progress since, and the Serbs – backed by the Russians – are threatening secession.
Ukraine is blackmailing the West to cause a nuclear disaster in Europe, unless it receives support for its war effort, according to pro-Kremlin propaganda.
Georgia could restrict the rights of the LGBT community. The move would hinder the country’s European integration.
The decision to postpone the elections is used by Russian propaganda to question the legitimacy of Volodymyr Zelensky and divide Ukrainian society from within.
A 100-billion-euro fund for Ukraine means a precise, long-term commitment with more offensive connotations than the support offered so far by the West.
One of the most recently developed conspiracy theories is the one about the “Great Reset”, whereby the “World Government” is purportedly seeking to establish a totalitarian regime on a global scale.
The West is pressing Ukraine to concede certain territories to Russia, but this is a ruse, pro-Kremlin propaganda writes, adding that Zelenskyy will be put on trial for war crimes.
Russian propaganda, alongside politicians, publicists and clerics from the Republic of Moldova, has been promoting for years narratives regarding the threats to the identity and even the existence of Moldova and Moldovans.
Russia is fighting a “holy war” against the evil embodied by a coalition of Nazis, Islamists, Westerners and the LGBT community, according to a narrative promoted, among others, by the Moscow Patriarchate. The thesis regarding a “fight between Good and Evil”, which includes this narrative as well, transpires also in disinformation narratives, fake news and conspiracy theories promoted by Russia in the West and in Romania.
Fewer and fewer Romanians are getting vaccinated, a trend that gained momentum during the Covid-19 pandemic. The phenomenon is related to conspiracy theories regarding the population being made sick intentionally.
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Isolated from Russia and marked by an economic crisis, Transnistria is forced to accept measures from Chisinau that it would have otherwise ignored. Tiraspol clings to an aggressive rhetoric, but doesn't really have many options at hand.
By organizing the referendum on EU integration, Chișinău renounces Transnistria, says the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov. He basically reiterates the thesis on the disintegration of the Republic of Moldova, promoted in Transnistria and Găgăuzia.
The relocation of Wagner forces to Belarus following Prigozhin’s aborted rebellion proved to be a propaganda move. Within a year, Lukashenko’s Wagner army, brandished as a threat to neighboring NATO countries, virtually melted away. It also failed to help Lukashenko achieve his objective of foraying into the lucrative mercenary business in Africa.
Ukrainians and Russians are one and the same people and Russia is waging a holy war in Ukraine, reads a false narrative promoted by the Russian Orthodox Church.
US President Joe Biden declared Catholic Easter the International Transgender Day of Visibility, according to a disinformation narrative also picked up in Romania.
An exhibition in Narva, dedicated to the Soviet bombing of this Estonian city in 1944 and comparing it to Russian bombardments of Ukraine, has outraged some local residents and politicians. The reactions are at least partly influenced by overexposure to Soviet and Russian propaganda.
The government is forcing Moldova’s European integration on its citizens, according to a false narrative promoted by the fugitive criminal Ilan Shor and picked up by the pro-Kremlin media
Ukraine has been accused of being responsible for the terrorist attack in Moscow. Originally published on Telegram, the thesis was developed by Vladimir Putin and his close siloviki, the current and former head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov and Nikolai Patrushev, both ex-KGB, like Putin. The narrative rids the Russian authorities of all responsibility, plays well into the rhetoric about the Ukrainian-Western aggression and can be used to escalate the war. Arguments in its defense include falsehoods and an older conspiracy theory.
The fear of war with Russia is taking a psychological toll on Latvians. Authorities are trying to reassure them, pointing that Moscow lacks the capacity to wage war against NATO.
The West cannot defeat Russia because it is inferior in technological and military terms, pro-Kremlin propaganda writes, trying to minimize Western support for Ukraine.
Moldova is calling on Russia to remove hundreds of thousands of people from Transnistria, which means the majority of the population, according to pro-Kremlin media. In reality, Chisinau only wants the withdrawal of the Russian army.
The presidential “election” in Russia is the pinnacle of a long series of crimes, abuses and diversions designed to turn Putin's dictatorship into a totalitarian system in the truest sense of the word. Launched as an iron-fisted regime meant to speed up the country's structural modernization, Putin's dictatorship ultimately led to Russia's complete break with Europe and its firm anchoring in the Asian political model.
Russia will create a buffer zone on Ukrainian territory to protect its civilians from Kyiv's bombings, according to pro-Kremlin media developing an idea voiced by the Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
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