The hybrid war that is being waged by the Russian Federation against the Republic of Moldova are now at a rather advanced stage as Moldova, in virtue of the circumstances, has a very clearly defined goal – to open the accession negotiations with the European Union. This is the critical moment for the enemies of the Republic of Moldova to activate their cohorts in Moldova. In June, there was launched the so-called protest movement “New Life” whose goal is to remove the current government from power by not really democratic methods. But the government is one of the favorite targets of those who deal with disinformation and hybrid wars, the standing expert of IPN’s project Igor Boțan stated in a public debate hosted by IPN News Agency.
Igor Boțan noted that the resources for the so-called protests come from over the borders and this thing was determined by the responsible institutions. This shows that we are now on the verge of a hybrid war. “An article published by an ex-adviser to the Russian President Vladimir Putin says the supreme goal of Russia is now to destabilize the whole Soviet space that has an authoritarian regime, where all the events are controlled, so as to be able to gain back the territories lost as a result of the so-called Third World War – the Cold War – which they also consider a hybrid war. We see the taken actions. Syncope appears in this so-called protest movement whose goal is to oust the constitutional government in Moldova and this is due to the fact that the responsible institutions find undeclared financial resources at the organizers of these protests,” stated the expert.
He said the attacks by the disinformation method are staged permanently. “We see the official positions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and the spokesperson of this Ministry, who in an absolutely impertinent way interfere in our internal affairs. On the other hand, we see response actions on the part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova, which in a decent way tells them that Russia should not become involved in the internal affairs of Moldova and in the adopted decisions,” he stated. Igor Boțan noted that the long-term negative effects of these attacks on the Republic of Moldova cannot be denied as our society is fragmented and this fragmentation can be used for those who wage hybrid wars against Moldova.
According to the expert, the hybrid wars start from the principle of differentiation. If society is divided, with many social cleavages, each segment is a differentiated target for the cleavages to be as deep as possible. The government and each minister apart become the favorite target of particular attacks. “It is important for our society to realize that hybrid wars have always been waged. We simply now found the necessary formula for labeling this type of nonconventional war. We called it hybrid war and emphasized a series of elements. As we realized that this war is permanent, we must adjust the methods of counteracting such phenomena,” concluded Igor Boțan.
The public debate entitled “Hybrid war: manifestations, dangers, solutions” was the 280th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
