Moldova: wave of pre-election vandalism blamed on group trained in Russia

In late September 2024, a wave of vandalism struck state and public buildings in Moldova's capital, Chișinău, weeks before a presidential election and a referendum on European Union membership held on 20 October. On 28 September, vandals poured paint across an entrance to the headquarters of state broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova, and paint was thrown at the Supreme Court building overnight. Days earlier, the government building and the Ministry for Labour and Social Protection were also spray-painted, in some cases with yellow paint, the colour of President Maia Sandu's pro-European ruling party.

Moldovan police said they had detained two young men, aged 21 and 20, one caught in a park and the other near parliament, who said they were part of a group of about 20 people recruited to commit acts of vandalism to destabilise state institutions. According to police, the detainees said they were trained in Moscow, having flown to Istanbul where they were met by a Russian citizen before travelling to a training ground near Moscow to learn how to spark and sustain protests. Police said they were paid up to 5,000 euros per attack, with recruits offered 500 euros a month, and that 13 group members had been identified. National police chief Viorel Cernăuțeanu warned the paint attacks could be a precursor to more serious acts. Teleradio-Moldova called the vandalism an attempt to intimidate journalists.

The incidents fit a broader pattern of alleged Russian hybrid interference around Moldova's 2024 presidential vote and EU referendum, which Chișinău says involved illicit financing, disinformation and recruitment of citizens trained abroad to provoke unrest. The Russia-linked attribution rests primarily on detainees' statements and police investigators, and has not been independently adjudicated in court; Moscow denies interfering in Moldova. The relatively low-cost, high-visibility nature of paint attacks on courts, ministries and a public broadcaster is consistent with intimidation and destabilisation aims rather than physical destruction, signalling an intent to undermine institutional trust during a high-stakes electoral period.