Father Zenovie, the abbot of Nechit Monastery in Neamț County, told his congregation, during service, that people who got vaccinated will become zombies and their skin will turn to fish scales.
NATO allegedly intended to attack Belarus in response to the hijacking of the Ryanair plane, but the attack was canceled due to Turkish opposition and fears that Russia would intervene in support of Minsk. This false narrative was launched by the Russian and pro-Russian press in response to the wave of criticism generated in the West by Belarus' action.
Maia Sandu closed schools and laid off teachers, according to the Socialist Bogdan Țîrdea, one of the main promoters of disinformation in Chisinau. The narrative, which is contradicted by statistics, has been used before and is being reactivated now, in the context of the election campaign, in order to destabilize the party founded by Maia Sandu, PAS, which, according to opinion polls, is the favorite.
A potential victory of right-wing parties in the parliamentary election will spell economic and social disaster for the Republic of Moldova, leading to protests, Socialist leader, Igor Dodon, has said. The narrative has been disseminated and amplified by Ria Novosti press agency.
Due to its NATO membership, Romania has grown more vulnerable and is likely to become the target of organized crime and terrorism, and the car bomb attack in Arad is just the beginning. The false narrative is being promoted by Sputnik and is part of the pro-Kremlin publication’s efforts to undermine Romanians’ confidence in NATO.
According to a fake narrative published in Romania, the arrest of Belarusian journalist and activist Roman Protasevich by the regime of Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk is just a diversion staged by Washington to distract attention from waiving sanctions on the construction of the Russian-German Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Amidst growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine over the escalation of the conflict in Donbass since the beginning of spring, Russian state-controlled media continue to promote a number of fake narratives about the “coup” of 2014 in Ukraine, the independence of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, the civil war and Kiev’s belligerent actions towards the Russian-speaking population.
Socialist MP Petru Burduja, a close associate of party leader, Igor Dodon, claims that a potential alignment of the Republic of Moldova to the regime of sanctions imposed against Belarus would seriously impact the economy and the country’s population, due to the close economic ties between the two states. Statistics show, however, that trade with Belarus accounts for approximately 2% of the total volume of Moldova’s external trade.
Occidentul vrea să impună victoria pro-europenilor în alegerile din Republica Moldova pentru a atrage țara în lupta împotriva Rusiei. Această narațiune falsă este promovată în contextul unei campanii electorale în care forțe pro-rusești – socialiști și comuniști – caută să pună accentul pe chestiunea orientarea geopolitică a Moldovei.
The case of the Ryanair plane forced to land in Minsk, where a journalist on board was arrested, gave rise to a wave of false narratives in Belarus and Russia. Some are bordering on the absurd - the West has been accused of organizing the incident as a provocation - while others are just aimed at slightly changing the context in order to clear Minsk, which says, for example, that it did not force the crew to land.
The former deputy prime minister and envoy of the Kremlin to Moldova and Transnistria, Dmitry Rogozin, drew a parallel between the hijacking of the plane from Belarus, which had the journalist and activist Roman Protasevich on board, and his situation in July 2017, when he was on the list of Russian officials sanctioned by the EU for the annexation of Crimea and the war in Eastern Ukraine, and was therefore not allowed to land on EU territory or fly over its airspace.
The Russian MFA and media have accused Washington of creating inter-confessional strife all over the world, including Ukraine. They have criticized the reports of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and the US State Department regarding freedom of conscience and the rights of the faithful.
The West has amped up its interference in the Republic of Moldova’s internal affairs, the spokesperson of the Russian MFA, Maria Zakharova, has told a press briefing. Similar accusations were also made during the campaign for the presidential election last year in autumn, despite the fact that Russian president Vladimir Putin wished Igor Dodon good luck and promised assistance for the Republic of Moldova with the campaign in full swing.
If the right-wing forces come to power, the Republic of Moldova will disappear as a state and the population will grow poorer, a Socialist deputy said. The narrative was launched in the context of the election campaign and was taken over by the PSRM affiliated press. The aim is to undermine citizens' trust in the efforts to join the European path and in the Republic of Moldova’s Western partners. At the same time, attempts are being made to discredit pro-European parties and discourage the diaspora from voting.
Russian propaganda is trying to portray former Social-Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea as the victim of the machinations of the US and Romanian justice systems
The Ukrainian state disappeared after 2014 and became a US and NATO colony, says an "independent" Finnish political scientist who, in reality, has close ties to Russia and the pro-Russian separatists in Donbass. It is an attempt to render legitimate, using the opinion of a Westerner, the narratives by means of which the Kremlin seeks to justify the uprising it supported in the neighboring state in an attempt to stop it from getting closer to the Euro-Atlantic structures.
Ukraine is ruled by fascist elements, who came to power in 2014. The narrative, already used for 7 years, was reactivated around May 9, when the "Russian world" marks the victory against Nazism. At the same time, there is an association with clashes that took place on May 9 between separatists and pro-government forces in Mariupol, a city that eventually remained under Kiev's control.
Maia Sandu is supported by far-right unionists in Romania and is a sympathizer of Marshal Ion Antonescu. The narrative that tries to associate the President of the Republic of Moldova with a war criminal and fascism is promoted in the context of the election campaign underway in Chisinau and Sandu, who is considered the driving engine of PAS, is seen as the main threat by pro-Russian parties.
The military exercises Moscow organizes in Crimea are legitimate since they take place on Russian soil, Russia’s Ambassador in Bucharest, Valery Kuzmin said in an interview, rehashing a number of Kremlin propaganda theses, including a few related to World War II.
In the context of Russia celebrating the victory in the Great War for the Defense of the Fatherland on May 9th and Ukraine's refusal to recognize any longer Moscow's dominant narratives regarding World War II, the Russian press writes that neo-Nazism is cultivated in the West, while in Ukraine Nazi ideology is included in the education system.
Maia Sandu and the West want Moldovans to become second-class Romanian citizens, according to a politician from Gagauzia who demands that, in order to save the country, "pro-Moldovan" forces form a bloc. This is one of the false narratives reactivated in the context of the parliament election campaign in the Republic of Moldova.
The US is pushing Ukraine towards an escalation of the conflict in Donbass, the leader of one of the self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine says. The statement is part of the narrative that seeks to undermine the partnership between Kiev and the West. The West is being portrayed as responsible for the war, despite the fact that Russia is the one that launched aggressions in the region.
The organization of an early election in the Republic of Moldova has reactivated a number of false narratives, also used in the previous election campaign, about Maia Sandu and right-wing parties, especially the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS). The pro-Russian Socialists try to persuade voters that a win for the right-wing parties would spell economic and social disaster. Furthermore, it would put Moldova under Western control.
The hunt of a trophy-bear by a Prince of Lichtenstein is used as an opportunity to breathe new life into narratives depicting Romania as a Western colony. This disinformation seeks to capitalize on the wave of public outrage sparked by this story, which has already prompted a criminal investigation into poaching and illegal use of firearms.
The Party of Socialists and its affiliated media outlets claim the president of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, is allegedly responsible for the repeated price hikes for fuel in recent months. The narrative is promoted despite the fact that the president has no instruments at its disposal to influence fuel prices.
Patriarch Daniel's urging Romanians to get vaccinated is the result of "secret deals" between him and the head of state, Klaus Iohannis, after the meeting they had in February. The fact that the Easter services were allowed this year would be the result of a trade-off between the Church and the Presidency, so that the ROC priests become promoters of vaccination.
The "Galician language", spoken in western Ukraine, is different from Ukrainian, but the authorities resort to intimidation and blackmail to prevent specialists from revealing the existence of this language. The narrative appears in the Russian state media in the context of a string of analyzes on Russophobia in Ukraine and Kiev's attempts to "privatize the Russian language."
President Maia Sandu and NATO are discussing the participation of the Republic of Moldova in a possible military conflict against Russia to defend the interests of the United States, pravdorub.md writes. Washington wants to create an even bigger coalition made up of states from Eastern Europe, starting Ukraine and including the Baltic States, Poland and Romania. The narrative about Maia Sandu’s intention to involve the Republic of Moldova in an armed conflict against Russia, or to attack the breakaway region of Transnistria, has been increasingly used by Kremlin-linked media and the Party of Socialists, particularly ahead of the early election on Moldova.
Maia Sandu has called an early election at the West’s bidding and is plunging the country into chaos and exposing the population to the risk of infection. Her goal is to bring the Republic of Moldova under the control of external forces and undermine traditional values. These fake narratives are promoted by the Socialists in response to Maia Sandu’s decision to call an early election.
Romania is ruled by foreign ambassadors, an online publication writes, referring to an older narrative used extensively in recent years by populist, nationalist or corrupt figures. This time, the argument used to support the narrative is a statement by Senate Speaker, Anca Dragu, who said she has regular meetings with representatives of the diplomatic corps.
Russia carries out a classic type of diplomatic activity, within the law, while other diplomats accredited to Bucharest interfere in Romania's internal affairs, says Russian Ambassador Valeri Kuzmin, who repeats the fake narratives used by the Kremlin in its attempt to pose as a victim.
In the context of the escalating conflict in Donbass and the concentration of Russian troops at the border with Ukraine and Crimea, Russia's central media have resumed some narratives about the unity of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples, about Greater Russia and Moscow's historical right to engage in the “civil war” in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
