Russian propaganda media have resumed the false narrative regarding the massing of Romanian troops at the border with the Republic of Moldova, even if it had been debunked by the press and officially denied by Romania. Mediafax, the press agency that published the fake news in Romania, replaced it without an explanation.
In the new version, Sputnik, one of the most famous channels of Russian propaganda, quotes a deputy of the separatist Transnistrian region, who states that Romania is massing troops at the border with the Republic of Moldova and, although Bucharest denies it, Romanian special forces are already in Chisinau, and the security bodies of the Republic of Moldova are coordinated by Romanians. The false narrative regarding the massing of troops, which had been used before, was resumed shortly after Moscow officially assumed older disinformation regarding the imminence of a war in Transnistria, but also in the context in which Chisinau accused Russia of preparing a coup in the Republic of Moldova.
NEWS: […] The deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Moldova, Dmitrii Soin, a veteran of the special services, is convinced that the concentration of Romanian troops at the Moldovan border is underway,. He also recalls that in recent years the Moldovan forces have operated under the direct guidance of their Romanian colleagues:
“As early as last fall, I had information from my sources in Gagauzia and Chisinau that even then Romania was present, in the form of special units, force groups, on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. Romanians are there on a permanent basis and quite active. It is important to mention that it is difficult to distinguish a Moldovan from a Romanian, because the language is the same. Practically, all the employees of the law enforcement agencies have done internships in Romania in one way or another. Last fall, joint exercises of the Moldovan carabinieri and the Romanian gendarmes took place. That is, everything has been prepared for a long time, and now it’s coming to the surface, when larger units are massed at the border, so they are now visible. A concentration of special purpose units is taking place there, and an American surveillance plane is already flying around, Dmitrii Soin told Sputnik radio.
NARRATIVES: 1. Romania is massing troops at the border with the Republic of Moldova even if the Ministry of National Defense does not recognize it. 2. Romania is directing the law enforcement agencies of the Republic of Moldova and special groups have been present in Chisinau for a long time.
PURPOSE: The narratives aim to accuse Romania, and NATO respectively, of military involvement in the Republic of Moldova, of drawing Chisinau into the war. At the same time, they fuel panic and fear among the population.
CONTEXT: The Republic of Moldova could be considered the second target for Russia, in the war started a year ago against Ukraine, if it would succeed in defeating the Ukrainian armed forces. A small and poor state that has lost nearly half its population since declaring its independence, with part of the territory controlled by a separatist regime subservient to Moscow and with Russian troops stationed illegally, the Republic of Moldova can be an easy prey.
Since the beginning of the war, the Republic of Moldova has faced several crises and security threats, false bomb alerts, cyber-attacks, the airspace has been flown several times by Russian missiles launched on Ukraine, parts of which even fell on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. Such incidents do not appear to be isolated, but rather part of a hybrid war that the Russian Federation launched against the Republic of Moldova , a war that has also been publicly denounced by officials from Chisinau.
In addition to these security risks, currently the biggest threat is internal destabilization, pro-Russian political forces, made up of parties and politicians who have criminal issues and are trying to destabilize the situation, including through organized and paid protests, as the investigative press in Chisinau has shown. The most relevant example is that of the party led by the fugitive Ilan Shor, who is hiding from justice, having been sentenced to seven years in prison in the case of the one-billion-dollar theft. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, informed the European Council about a Russian plan to destabilize the Republic of Moldova, and the Moldovan president Maia Sandu provided details about that plan, which, in practice, would mean a coup - the term was avoided though – staged with the help of foreign mercenaries involved in attacks on state institutions and hostage-taking.
On the other hand, Moscow is inflaming the situation with disinformation regarding the imminence of an attack on Transnistria and even threatens to consider such actions as an attack on Russian territory and troops.
Against this background, footage of military equipment from Romania appeared, presented by the Russian propaganda as a massing of forces at the border with the Republic of Moldova. The information was debunked by both the media in the Republic of Moldova and by the press in Bucharest and denied by the Romanian Ministry of Defense, but before this happened, it was taken over and presented as such by one of the most well-known press agencies in Romania, Mediafax.
Mediafax removes the fake news without explanation after the piece has been debunked
The original headline on Mediafax was “Moldova is preparing for defense. HIMARS missiles, filmed while being carried to the border”. The article posted on the agency’s webpage, published on February 27, 2023 , was replaced, however, immediately after it was debunked, by another one, by the same authors, Alexandru Stan și Sorina Matei, with the publication date of February 28 and entitled “Ukrainian officials: Russia will initiate a new spring offensive. The Ukrainian army, ready to launch a counteroffensive”. The original news item does not appear on Medifax even if the search engine on the web page is used. The disclaimer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appears though.
Mediafax initial news, according to the internet archive.
The new Mediafax news at the same url where the first one used to be.
This is one of the cases that clearly shows how Russian propaganda can appear in the Romanian public space, as a result of a well-known agency carrying its pieces. Many times, however, this is disseminated through social media or by various controversial figures in the public space. Moreover, themes identical to those of Russian propaganda are also circulated in the area of the Western radical right, especially American, being taken over from there by Romanian publications, or they circulate in circles that promote ethno-nationalism of communist and even legionary inspiration. Finally, these false narratives typical of Russian propaganda rarely attract the attention that the topic of troop massing did, so the authorities usually do not react with denials and such narratives are often not debunked by the press.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: The article starts from a piece of fake news according to which Romania is installing military equipment, anti-aircraft systems, at the border with the Republic of Moldova, launched by a Russian Telegram channel and picked up by several online platforms and Russian propaganda websites. The information was denied by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs , which stressed that the video footage published by the Russian propaganda channels was recorded at the end of November 2022, in the center of the city of Alba Iulia, when rehearsals were carried out for the military ceremony organized to celebrate the National Day of Romania .
Moreover, it is not the first time that the propaganda media use footage of military units in motion to disinform that Romania is massing its forces at the border; one such fake news story was debunked by Veridica in early May, 2022.
As for the joint Moldovan-Romanian exercises to which the representative of the Tiraspol regime refers, these are cross-border projects financed by the European Union, or the annual, planned trainings of the military.
For example, between September 19 and 21, 2022, the “Danubius Shield 2022” international tactical training exercise with forces in the field (LIVEX) took place in Galati, a component of the joint training program part of the project “Increasing the professional capacities of staff involved in crowd and riot control operations in a cross-border context”. The project is implemented by the General Inspectorate of Carabinieri of the Republic of Moldova and the “Lower Danube” Galati County Gendarmerie Inspectorate, through the Joint Operational Program Romania - Republic of Moldova 2014-2020.
Trainings with the participation of Moldovan, Romanian and other states' soldiers take place regularly, according to the training plans of the Ministry of Defense. For example, the “Fire Shield” exercise has been held annually since 2015, and the “JCET” has been attended by the Moldovan military since 2009.
False narratives about military exercises are nothing new either. In the summer of 2021, for example, some fake news appeared according to which the Republic of Moldova wanted to join NATO because a Moldovan army platoon had participated in NATO exercises. Such false narratives seem to ignore the fact that multinational exercises are part of most armed forces’ regular training, and even Russia has participated in such exercises that NATO countries attended as well, the latest of them being the one held in Pakistan in early 2021.
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