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The draft National Defense Law, launched for public debate by the relevant ministry at the start of this month, has become a source of fake news and disinformation advocated by Russian propaganda, as well as by pro-Russian propaganda in the Republic of Moldova. The “hook” is a provision in the stated law according to which Romanian authorities can undertake “the necessary steps to protect Romanian citizens who are endangered outside the territory of Romania”, which Russian propaganda interprets as Romania targeting the territory of the Republic of Moldova and parts of the Ukrainian territory, including by taking part the so-called partition of Ukraine, a country at war with Russia. This is actually an older narrative, widely circulated by the Kremlin to reduce Ukrainian confidence in Western countries.
Russian media: Romania is preparing to “swallow” the Republic of Moldova and parts of Ukraine
The legislative initiative generated reactions in the pro-Kremlin media shortly after its provisions were made public by Bucharest media. “They’re pointing their guns at Transnistria”, bloknot.ru headlined on April 3. “Basically, this is about Bucharest's tendency to legislate its political governance by deploying armed forces to Moldova and, possibly, Ukraine. Transnistria is first and foremost in danger”, the institution wrote, drawing a parallel with Romania's entry in the Second World War.
“Romania is trying to kill two birds with one stone - the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine”, pravda.ru also commented, noting that the country is taking up arms and preparing to restore Greater Romania, or that “the nationalist AUR party has the support of 20% of the electorate”. The publication also claims the aforementioned law is introduced with a view to Romania “opening a second front”.
Citing Tiraspol deputy Andrei Safonov, ng.ru writes that the law “marks the beginning of preparations for Romanian troops invading the territories that Bucharest considered to be its own or at least, from a historical point of view, part of their sphere of influence. We can assume Romanians are targeting the south of Bessarabia and the north of Bucovina, present-day territories of the Republic of Moldova and Transnistria. It is possible Romanians will not be acting alone, but in partnership with the French, whose president promised not long ago he would deploy French troops to Ukraine”.
Romania's “revanchist policy” is not a new theme of Russian propaganda, which shortly after the Russian invasion has regularly “warned” about Bucharest's intentions to send its armies to annex the Republic of Moldova, but also parts of the territory of Ukraine immediately after the Russian invasion. Veridica has dismantled several fake news and disinformation narratives on this topic. Such fake news is designed to present Romania as an aggressor, to fuel the concerns of parts of the population of the Republic of Moldova, especially in the region of Transnistria, but also the population of Ukraine regarding the threat of a “Romanian occupation”.
In addition, new disinformation narratives (such as Emmanuel Macron “promising” to deploy French troops to Ukraine) are popularized. Although they appear to be of lesser importance, they help paint an overall picture of a belligerent West that threatens Russia's security.
Reactions from pro-Russians in the Republic of Moldova: Romania is taking part in the partition of Ukraine
The National Defense Law project prompted different reactions in Chișinău: it was met with reserve by certain politicians and experts, and with hope by others. It was also used as a propaganda topic in anti-European and pro-Kremlin media.
President Maia Sandu expressed hope for the support that Romania, as well as other European states, can offer, and the Government's spokesperson stated that the authorities will be monitoring “all the developments related to this project”.
Noi.md brought back to the fore the narrative that the West planning to partition Ukraine, dividing its territories among Poland, Hungary and Romania. This narrative was previously circulated by the pro-Kremlin media, but also by Kremlin politicians and debunked by Veridica. “The intervention of the Romanian army in the Republic of Moldova [...] under the pretext of protecting its citizens could accomplish the long-term efforts of the neighboring country to Romanianize the Moldovans by teaching a false history in Moldovan educational institutions, by replacing the name of the language, by means of corruption spread among Moldovan intellectuals and clerics and, finally, by turning Moldova into one of Romania's provinces”, noi.md also writes.
The same publication also cites a former deputy foreign minister during the communist government, Valeriu Ostalep, who used this opportunity to reiterate another narrative widely promoted by Russian and pro-Russian propaganda in the Republic of Moldova, the narrative about “the Romanian gendarme”, i.e. about alleged atrocities committed by the Romanian administration in the interwar period. “Worries and fears are surging in Moldovan society with respect to Romania due to unpleasant historical memories, the fact that Romania imposed the name of its language and the mandatory study of Romanian history on the citizens of Moldova, as well as because of the expansionist visions and aspirations of the leadership of the neighboring country”.
The general goal of this narrative is to criticize Romania and depict the 1918 unification of Bessarabia as an event with a negative impact on the population, thus fueling the fears of a part of society, national minorities in particular, regarding a supposed new unification (annexation, to use propaganda language) which Romania will possibly impose.
What the project entails
On April 1, the Defense Ministry in Bucharest published the draft of a new National Defense Law. The current law was adopted in 1994, before Romania joined NATO, a time when the global and regional geopolitical context was different. Therefore, new legislation was needed to reflect the changing realities.
In the national defense bill, the Ministry of Defense (MApN) stipulates which institutions take charge of ensuring national defense and how. The draft law also stipulates the obligations of certain companies and the population. The bill also provides for sanctions, listed at the end of the document.
First of all, the draft law put up for public debate stipulates that “the implementation of decisions, measures and actions with respect to national defense applies to all citizens”.
G4media notes that the project introduces for the first time the concept of Romania intervening to protect Romanian citizens threatened outside national borders. Existing laws do not allow this possibility. The new instrument, made available to the president of Romania, appears in the context in which the Republic of Moldova is targeted by Russian hybrid aggression, and official data shows that over 600,000 Moldovans also have Romanian citizenship.
The former Romanian presidential adviser, Iulian Chifu, explains the bill was not designed specifically for the Republic of Moldova: “Romania does not go to the territory of another state to take specific action. This state is called the Republic of Moldova, and Romania has strong bilateral relations with this country, a strategic partnership for its European integration, on the basis of which projects developed here are to the benefit of mutual relations. The bill was referring to international waters, third spaces, states that are on the brink of dissolution or with regions outside their national borders, outside the control of public authorities, which do not have the ability to intervene at any time in a given situation”.
The project does not say Romania will launch a military intervention to seize territories, as emphasized by Russian propaganda. Secondly, the law has a nationwide scope and does not refer to NATO military interventions, as some pro-Kremlin media outlets also wrote.
“What the Romanian Parliament will approve or not, is Parliament’s sovereign right. The issue has been mentioned in other contexts as well, and it must be made clear that whatever an allied state decides at national level remains a sovereign decision. It doesn't mean that the entire Alliance automatically falls into that logic. NATO's logic is very clear – it is a defensive alliance, we defend our territory and populations and try to support our partners as much as we can, in full observance of international law. In the case of the Republic of Moldova, it refers to the constitutional neutrality that the Republic of Moldova preserves as part of its fundamental law”, Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mircea Geoană, told zdg.md in an interview.
