DISINFO: Maia Sandu is acting on behalf of the West, hired to destroy Moldova
SUMMARY
President Maia Sandu is a manager acting on behalf of the West who was hired to destroy the republic of Moldova.
RESPONSE
A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative referring to Maia Sandu and the Republic of Moldova's lack of sovereignty and independence, increasingly used as the country actively tries to join the EU. In June 2022, the country was granted EU candidate status. The narrative also fits the recurring disinformation narrative that frames the Moldovan leadership as Western puppets, despite there being no evidence to support this claim.
There is no evidence that Maia Sandu is a Western agent. Moldovan citizens elected Maia Sandu in free and democratic elections in November 2020. Sandu won the 2020 election with 57.72% of the vote in a run-off against incumbent Igor Dodon. Her presidency and policies aim at closer integration with the European Union and fighting corruption, not destroying the republic. Sandu's background includes work with the World Bank and as Moldova's Minister of Education, but there is no evidence she is acting on behalf of Western powers to undermine Moldova. The characterisation of her as a 'manager hired by the West' is a standard disinformation narrative used to discredit pro-European leaders.
This is part of a years-long Russian interference campaign aiming to undermine Moldova’s government and erode its sovereignty. See EUvsDisinfo analysis here, here and here.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that EU HRVP Kaja Kallas brought equipment to Moldova to suppress protests, that a brutal police intervention shows Moldova is a dictatorship under a rainbow flag, that the EU wants to use Moldova's territory for its anti-Russian geopolitical interests, that the EU encourages censorship in Moldova, or that Moldova’s jailing of political opponents shows it is a democracy in name only.