On the eve of Moldova’s Sept. 28 parliamentary elections, the Kremlin-linked Matryoshka disinformation network released yet another wave of fake videos, the Bot Blocker Project reports. One of the videos claims that the authorities in Chisinau stripped four of The Insider’s journalists of their Moldovan citizenship. Needless to say, the claim is false.
In the fake video, the revocation of citizenship was presented as part of Maia Sandu's alleged repressions against independent media outlets, supposedly in retaliation for investigations into “electoral corruption” on the part of Sandu herself and her party, PAS.
In reality, none of The Insider’s journalists hold or have ever held Moldovan citizenship, and the outlet has not conducted any investigations into the fabricated corruption claims against Sandu. The only investigations by The Insider related to Moldova have focused on the Matryoshka bot network, Russian interference in the elections, the activities of fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, and other Kremlin hybrid operations targeting the country.
As The Insider’s editor-in-chief, Roman Dobrokhotov, made clear, “None of The Insider’s journalists have ever held Moldovan citizenship, and the only investigations we have conducted recently concerning Moldova were about the Kremlin’s interference in Moldovan politics through such bots.”
In his post, Dobrokhotov also sent regards to Russian citizens Sofia Zakharova and Ilya Gambashidze. Zakharova is a staffer at Moscow’s...
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