Moldovan President Maia Sandu has warned that her country faces a “race against time” to protect its democracy from attempts by Russia to influence the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Speaking to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, Sandu described the 28 September vote for Moldova’s 101-seat legislature as the most consequential in the nation’s history. She reiterated allegations that Moscow is conducting a “hybrid war” against Moldova through disinformation, vote-buying, illicit party funding and other tactics, aimed at undermining the election and Moldova’s European Union membership ambitions.
“The Kremlin’s goal is clear: to capture Moldova through the ballot box, to use us against Ukraine, and to turn us into a launchpad for hybrid attacks on the European Union,” Sandu said.
The president said the outcome will determine whether Moldova becomes a stable democracy or risks being pulled away from Europe.
“Today we face an unlimited hybrid war on a scale unseen before the full invasion of Ukraine,” she added.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola praised Sandu’s determination and reaffirmed the EU’s support for Moldova’s democratic path. The parliament is set to debate a resolution on strengthening Moldova’s resilience to Russian hybrid threats, with a vote expected on Wednesday.
Leaders from France, Germany and Poland recently visited Moldova to mark its 34th independence anniversary, demonstrating continued European backing.
Sandu’s Party of Action and Solidarity, which she founded in 2016, won a clear majority in 2021 but faces uncertainty in the upcoming election. Moldova applied for EU membership following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and was granted candidate status the same year. Accession negotiations began last year.
Siegfried Muresan, chair of the European Parliament’s delegation to Moldova, said: “Moldova is a priority for EU security, not just EU enlargement. A stronger Moldova means a weaker Russia at our borders.”
Sandu’s warnings followed the arrest in Romania of a former Moldovan intelligence official accused of spying for Belarus, part of a broader network allegedly used by Russia to target Europe.
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The U.S. military's Central Command said on Tuesday that Iran has launched over 500 ballistic missiles and over 2,000 drones in its retaliatory attacks throughout the Middle East so far.
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose a full U.S. trade embargo on Spain on Tuesday after the European and NATO ally refused to let the U.S. military use its bases for missions linked to strikes on Iran.
An Israeli strike on a four-storey residential building has killed at least four people and wounded six others in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek with rescue teams working to pull families from beneath the rubble, state news agency NNA said on Wednesday.
Kazakhstan has vowed to speed up its investigation into the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) crash near Aktau, as mounting diplomatic pressure and geopolitical tensions push the disaster further into the international spotlight.
The Kremlin is utilising the recent United States and Israeli military strikes on Iran to validate its ongoing war in Ukraine. Russian officials are pointing to the escalation in the Middle East as evidence that Western nations do not adhere to international rules.
Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant Saudi Aramco closed its Ras Tanura refinery on Monday following an Iranian drone strike, an industry source told Reuters as Tehran retaliated across the Gulf after a U.S.-Israeli attack on Iranian targets over the weekend.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. military has enough stockpiled weapons to fight wars "forever"; in a social media post late on Monday. The remarks came hours before conflict in Iran and the Middle East entered its fourth day.
Türkiye raised its security level for Turkish-flagged vessels in the Strait of Hormuz to Level 3 on Sunday (2 March). The development follows Iranian restrictions on shipping after U.S. and Israeli strikes and confirmation of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s death.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov following recent military strikes carried out by the United States and Israel on targets in Iran, as tensions in the Middle East continue to rise.
Strikes across the Middle East are intensifying, fuelling travel disruption, driving up global energy prices and forcing diplomatic missions to shut their doors.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said the United States has a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions and is capable of sustaining military action indefinitely, as the conflict with Iran entered its fourth day.
The United Nations has called for an investigation into a deadly attack on a girls’ primary school in Iran, which Iranian officials say has killed more than 100 children. The U.S. has said its forces “would not” deliberately target a school.
U.S. first lady, Melania Trump chaired a UN Security Council meeting on children and education in conflict on Monday (2 March), a move criticised by Iran as hypocritical following U.S. and Israeli strikes that triggered a UN warning about risks to children.
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