Putin wants to dismantle NATO and the EU from within; he has assigned Moldova a key role in this - NYT

At the end of last year, Putin gathered his inner circle for a secret briefing to convey the task for 2026: the "collapse of NATO and the EU from within." Moldova plays a key role in achieving this goal, UNN reports, citing The New York Times.

Details

According to the authors of the publication, in this tiny country, Moscow paid Orthodox priests, organized a voter-bribery scheme, and set up training camps for election interference - all with the aim of overthrowing the pro-Western government and President Maia Sandu.

The Kremlin’s campaign included methods familiar from other Western countries, such as hacking attacks and disinformation. However, in Moldova, this interference may have gone further than anywhere else outside Ukraine and is one of Putin’s largest and boldest efforts to destabilize the West

At the same time, Russian officials publicly deny interfering in Moldova’s affairs and reject accusations that Moscow is trying to undermine the authority of the West.

In December last year, Putin sharply criticized European leaders in an address to the Russian military command for "stoking hysteria" over the threat from Russia. However, shortly afterward, he gathered his inner circle for a secret briefing to deliver a directly opposite message, according to officials from two countries familiar with the event. "Your goal for 2026," Putin told them, "is the collapse of NATO and the EU from within"

Moldova plays a key role in these efforts. According to Western intelligence officials, the Kremlin’s top priority is the conquest of Ukraine, while second is establishing control over Moldova. Although Moldova is not a member of the European Union or NATO, it has a strategic location, situated between NATO member states and Ukraine.

Moldova would become an ideal staging ground for Russia’s further aggression against Ukraine or the West, officials said, adding that Putin still hopes to seize part of southern Ukraine to create a land corridor connecting Russia with Moldova.

A map of Russian troop movements published by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko at the beginning of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, showed that one of the Kremlin’s objectives was to reach Transnistria via southern Ukraine - a separatist region of Moldova where an operational group of Russian troops is stationed, the successor to the 14th Soviet and Russian Army. However, the Kremlin did not achieve this goal.

Russia wants to use Moldova as a staging ground for hostile actions against Ukraine, as well as against its main defense and financial allies - the EU and NATO

Previously

The director of Moldova’s SIS, Alexandru Musteață, said that Russia had intensified disinformation campaigns and was preparing to interfere in the next elections.