On Thursday 24 April, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, announced that the EU will strengthen its support for Moldova’s security.
“The war against Moscow has deep implications for Moldova: from energy blackmail and disinformation to repeated violations of its airspace, Russian pressure is persistent. This is why we will continue to support the strengthening of its security”, she explained alongside the Moldovan President, Maia Sandu, in Chisinau.
In parallel with the visit, the European Union adopted a new €20 million assistance measure for the Moldovan armed forces through the European Peace Facility (EPF). The aim of the measure is to finance “short-range air defence equipment designed to release lethal force”, i.e. launchers and short-range air defence missiles to prevent Russian missiles and drones from flying over Moldovan territory.
This €20 million is in addition to the €40 million from the EPF announced on 7 April (see EUROPE 13617/36). In total, since 2021, Chisinau has received 197 million euros from the EPF.
In addition to military support, the EU will be helping Moldova to protect its electoral process during the legislative elections next autumn. The 2024 presidential election and EU referendum were tainted by vote-buying (see EUROPE 13508/1). “Based on the experience of previous elections, we know that Russia will use its full spectrum of tools and instruments to undermine our European path in the forthcoming parliamentary elections this autumn, through massive funding, disinformation networks, cyber attacks and attempts to buy votes”, warned Ms Sandu.
To strengthen the country's capacity to prevent these attempts at manipulation, and at the request of the local authorities, “the EU will deploy a hybrid rapid intervention team to consolidate institutional capacities and help the country to ensure the proper functioning of electoral infrastructures and prevent disinformation from spreading online”, announced the High Representative. She added that the EU would also continue to contribute to strengthening Moldova’s resilience to hybrid threats and crisis preparedness (see EUROPE 13509/19). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)