Manipulation poisoned the whole decision-making process in the Russian Federation. Even the analyses based on which the operations to invade Ukraine were planned were fabricated out of the wish to present a better situation to the superiors and to tell them what they wanted to hear, Valeriu Pașa, head of the WatchDog Community, stated in a public debate staged by IPN.

According to him, the system deteriorated in time and Ukraine only helped reveal the state of affairs. “They are now examining the lists of agents recruited in Ukraine as money was allegedly paid to informers from among Ukrainians, but in reality the money went into the pockets of corrupt employees of the Russian intelligence services. The quality of security and foreign policy expertise decreased considerably in the Russian Federation. In the Republic of Moldova, we also saw election campaigns managed disastrously by Russian intelligence services, in a “hei-rup” manner. I had the occasion to convince myself that these people really believe in the foolish things they disseminated,” said the activist.

He supported the idea that many of the supporters of the “Russian world” in Moldova are victims who need to be treated, not to be blamed. “When we want to annihilate the impact of manipulation on these, we should use not only reason, logical arguments, but should also use the people’s feelings. The moral, emotional component maters a lot,” said the expert.

Referring to the inventions about the supporters of the Kremlin’s propaganda, Valeriu Pașa said in Moldova it is believed that these represent the ethnic minorities. “This is not true. Yes, a high percentage of ethnics say they are supporters of the Kremlin. But the Russian ethnics are the most resistant to Russia disinformation, while the Ukrainians and Gagauz people are paradoxically the most exposed. However, if we look at particular polls, we see that half of the respondents who support Putin in this bloodshed are Moldovans,” he said, noting this happens even if the Moldovans citizens have access to a wide range of sources, while the Russian sources no longer have the same positions as earlier.

The expert believes the situation concerning the diversity and accessibility to sources from which the citizens inform themselves is much better than in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and instigated separatist movements in eastern Ukraine. Then, the mass media, the Moldovan state didn’t devote enough attention to the conflict in Ukraine. The so-called pro-European government even tried to employ Russian propaganda clichés, denigrating the term “maidan”.

Valeriu Pașa noted some of the propagandists of the Kremlin are on their own, but most of them are mercenaries. The largest part of the persons working now for holdings that safeguard the interests of the Party of Socialists and Veaceslav Platon for money earlier worked for Vlad Plahotniuc.

The public debate entitled “Who approves of the war and why?” was the 229th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.