Disinfo: Moldova's authorities and their external partners are preparing massive fraud in early elections

Summary

Moldova's authorities and their external partners abroad are preparing massive fraud in early [parliamentary] elections.

In recent days, we have witnessed the unprecedented activity of the authorities and representatives of the West regarding the massive participation of the diaspora in early parliamentary elections. Under pressure from the West, the Moldovan authorities are going to open even more polling stations abroad, but who will control the voting process?

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about elections and Moldova.

The aim of this narrative is to discredit Moldova's pro-European parties as well as the country's Western partners. See here a similar case saying that the West interfered in Moldova to help Maia Sandu win the presidential elections and here a case claiming that Maia Sandu won thanks to election fraud, which was a success of the "collective West".

The claim refers to the statement of the chairman of the Central Electoral Commission, who said that for the July 11 parliamentary election 190 polling stations could be opened abroad, compared to 139 open in the presidential elections in November 2020, but a final decision on this will be taken on 5 June 2021.

The consideration to open more polling stations for the diaspora in European countries as well as a recent meeting between the members of the European Parliament and the Moldovan President are presented as evidence of preparation of massive fraud. Actually, the voting process abroad is organised exclusively by the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in close cooperation with the diplomatic missions and does not involve any assistance from the officials of the host countries, except for receiving their agreement to open polling stations.

As for the EU's position on the upcoming parliamentary election, Peter Michalko, Head of the EU delegation to the Republic of Moldova, has stated in one of his recent interviews that the composition of the next parliament will be decided by the Moldovan citizens in the next popular vote.

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  • Reported in: Issue 246
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 26/05/2021
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Moldova, EU, US
  • Keywords: Elections, Maia Sandu, election meddling
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Disinfo: Poland is not a party in the Ryanair incident in Belarus

[In terms of the Ryanair plane], a smart question here would be why is Poland interfering in this situation at all. We are dealing with an incident that has already become an international scandal and in which Poland plays a completely marginal role. It is a fact that the plane belongs to a company registered in Poland, which is owned by the Irish Ryanair; also, there were four Polish citizens on board – does it really put us on the list of the sides most harmed by this incident? Don’t the Polish Prosecution Service have anything else to do? The only reason for the Polish Prosecution to initiate a criminal investigation on this incident is the desire of Polish politicians to use this international scandal in order to appear on TV.

May 25, 2021
Disproof

Disinformation about Ryanair flight 4978.

On 24 May 2021, the Polish Prosecution Service initiated a criminal investigation into the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk. Poland is a direct party in this incident because the aircraft belongs to a Polish company, Ryanair Sun (a subsidiary of the Irish company Ryanair). The Polish authorities accused Belarus of “state terrorism”.

Disinfo: Western secret services leaked information about Pratasevich’s journey to Minsk

The situation with an emergency landing of the Ryainair flight was provoked by the Western secret services.

This operation was a pretext to ban Belarusian flights over the territory of the EU,

It is almost certain, that the information about the Pratasevich's presence on board of the plane was leaked to Minsk by the West.

May 25, 2021
Disproof

Recurring disinformation narrative about Roman Pratasevich and the forced diversion of Ryanair flight FR4978. Part of a series of messages designed to confuse the audience with smokescreen explanations, the message presents an unfounded claim that Western intelligence services leaked information about Protasevich's journey to Belarusian special service and provoked Minsk to detain the journalist in order to close the sky of the EU for Belarusian airlines.

Actually, the President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda stated that a diversion of the Ryanair flight FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius and a forced landing in Minsk was a “state-sponsored terroristic act”. The Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis noted that “the forced landing of a commercial plane to detain a journalist is an unprecedented, shocking act”. In the statement of US President Joe Biden, the incident with Ryanair flight was evaluated as “diversion” (more about international reaction see here).

Disinfo: Raman Pratasevich is a well-known extremist controlled by the West

The actions of the Belarusian law enforcement agents, who arrested the well-known extremist Raman Pratasevich, caused hysteria in Western countries, which have intensified their rhetoric against Belarus and its president Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Those countries had previously ignored extradition demands for Pratasevich, and will do everything at hand to exert maximum pressure on Belarus due to its desire to defend its sovereignty and not pledge to Washington and Brussels. This hysteria suggests that he [Pratasevich] had handlers from Europe and the US.

May 25, 2021
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the forced diversion and landing on Ryanair flight 4978 and denigration of Belarusian dissident journalist Raman Pratasevich.

Pratasevich became a target of the Belarusian regime due to his role as a co-founder of the opposition Nexta channel on Telegram, which played an important role in providing information and broadcasting huge opposition protests against the electoral fraud perpetrated by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko in 2020. Pratasevich fled Belarus for Poland in 2019 due to pressure from the authorities. He later relocated to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is also based due to Belarus government pressure against her.