“Today, Europe is facing two wars,” Moldovan President Maia Sandu told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Tuesday 27 January.
The first - “visible, brutal, devastating” - is being led by Russia in Ukraine.
The second is a “war against our democracies”, which is “less visible” but “no less dangerous”.
“These two wars are not separate. They reinforce one another. [And they] pursue the same objective: to undermine, control, and divide Europe.”
Referring to the experience of her country, “still [...] on the frontline of this second war”, Maia Sandu spoke of “massive” Russian interference in the elections through an energy crisis, an online information war and cyber operations.
Moldova is resisting this onslaught, according to its President, but this is not the case for Georgia and Armenia, which are also becoming targets for the Kremlin.
Faced with this hybrid war, Maia Sandu recommends “acting at the speed of the threat” to “protect our democracies without betraying democratic principles”.
She underlines the “unique role” that the Council of Europe can play, and calls for “a clear and comprehensive legal instrument” dealing with electoral interference and media manipulation by linking them to issues of organised crime, cybercrime, corruption and the misuse of AI.
The aim is to act “before the damage is done, not after”. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)