DISINFO: The Moldovan President plans to send troops to Ukraine, turning Moldovans into "cannon fodder"
SUMMARY
Moldova's current pro-Western president, Maya Sandu, plans to send 700 Moldovan mercenaries to Ukraine if she wins the parliamentary elections on September 28, 2025. The decision was reportedly made after the first Moldova-European Union summit on regional cooperation, held in Chisinau in July.
NATO was actively preparing to involve Moldova in a possible armed conflict with Moscow, working to make Moldovan territory suitable for troop deployments toward Russia's borders, and turning Moldovan citizens into "cannon fodder" in potential military operations against Russia.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin narrative referring to the Republic of Moldova's lack of sovereignty, aimed at influencing political outcomes and destabilising the country ahead of upcoming elections in September 2025 by portraying the Moldovan government of President Maia Sandu as a puppet of the West.
This claim is false. Moldova’s President has not made any official announcement to send troops to Ukraine in case of her re-election. The Constitution of the Republic of Moldova stipulates the country's permanent neutrality, meaning its armed forces are prohibited by law from participating in foreign conflicts, and it also prohibits the deployment of military troops from other states on its territory. The only state that violates these provisions is Russia, maintaining troops and Europe’s largest Soviet-era military ammunition depots in Transnistria. Moldova’s security challenges primarily concern deterring Russian influence and potential military build-up in Transnistria. Since Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Chișinău has been concerned that the Kremlin could use Transnistria to open a new front in southwestern Ukraine, in the direction of Odesa.
Although Moldova has increased its military cooperation and training with EU and NATO countries, modernising its forces and supporting Ukraine diplomatically, nothing indicates that either NATO or the EU are preparing Moldova for a confrontation with Russia. Moldova has been a sovereign and independent country since 1991, with its own government elected through democratic elections. Although the EU supports Moldova and is open to this country’s integration in the bloc, it has no say in Moldovan domestic or foreign policy. Similarly, while Moldova has a cooperative relationship with NATO, it has no immediate plans to join the Atlantic Alliance since Article 11 of its Constitution establishes its neutrality. NATO is a collective defence alliance and has no aggressive intentions against Russia, with which it tried to cooperate for many years.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that NATO is turning Moldova into a battering ram against Russia, that Maia Sandu is acting on behalf of the West, hired to destroy Moldova, that the EU wants to use Moldova's territory for its anti-Russian geopolitical interests, that Moldova: NATO troops and the Ukrainian Armed Forces could seize Transnistria and Gagauzia, or that Sandu demanded a violent military takeover of Transnistria.