DISINFO: The residents of Moldova aren’t satisfied with the policies of the new government
SUMMARY
The residents of Moldova aren’t satisfied with the policies of the new government, according to a survey. The residents of Moldova were asked if they think the republic is developing in the right direction. While immediately after the July elections 52.4% of participants in the survey thought that Moldova was heading the right direction, 36.4% was certain that the country needed to change political course and 11.2% was undecided, in October 42.2% of the population supports the course taken by authorities, 40.9% believe that the country is in the wrong track, and the number of undecided rose to 16.7%.
RESPONSE
This disinformation story seems to be part of a long-term disinformation campaign against Moldovan president Maia Sandu, whose political formation secured on the 11 July 2021 election a majority of seats in the parliament against the pro-Russian party Bloc of Communists and Socialists.
The article doesn’t provide any information about the survey that allows to check its validity, or its actual existence, such as the polling firm who carried it out. In any case, even with the results included in the story, the headline is wrong: it would be incorrect to say that “the residents of Moldova aren’t satisfied”, as this data shows wide population strips both in favour of and against the government’s policies, in very similar numbers. Not only that: the results show that a majority of Moldovan citizens support the actions of the current authorities.
See other examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation about Moldova, such as claims that the country is under the soft occupation of Western NGOs that are destroying it, that foreign diplomatic missions managed the dissolution of the Moldovan Parliament, that Maia Sandu and PAS pledged to liquidate hundreds of villages in exchange for money, that the country can lose its sovereignty if pro-Western forces come to power, that Western foundations prepare the informative destabilisation of Transnistria, or that the Eastern Partnership is EU’s colonial tool and the source of conflicts in post-Soviet states.