Threatening letters and bomb threats for civil servants in Moldova

Threatening letters, bomb threats, cyber attacks, and intimidation, these are what civil servants and law enforcement officers in Moldova are facing.

This was reported by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Moldova, Anna Revenco, in an interview with RFI.

She believes that this is all part of a large hybrid war waged by Russia.

They tried to destabilize the work of civil servants and law enforcement officers. Energy blackmail, intimidation, notifications, summonses and threatening postcards – the actions preventing officials from "doing their job properly" are intended to "cause chaos instead of discipline" and are aimed at "sowing fear about the legitimacy of the actions taken by the authorities," Anna Revenko said.

"All of this is aimed at causing destabilization of such a nature that radicalization of the population, disinformation, fake campaigns compromising national leaders will put pressure on the authorities. Russia expects it to lead to a change of government, and therefore the democratic course," the Minister said.

The security situation in Moldova became even more acute this February. Back then, Ukraine handed over to Moldovan President Maia Sandu the Kremlin's plan to destabilize the situation in the country, including the involvement of subversive groups from Belarus, the Balkans, and Russia.

"This is a short-term plan that involves sabotage involving persons with military training disguised as civilians. They are planning violent actions, including attacks on some state institutions and taking hostages," Maia Sandu noted.

Thereafter, the European Union discussed the possibility of deploying a civilian mission to "strengthen resilience to foreign interference." On May 22, 2023, the EU officially announced the launch of the civilian mission.

"The Council is launching today the EU Partnership Mission in the Republic of Moldova (EUPM Moldova) under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) to enhance the resilience of the security sector in the country," – the statement reads.

The day before, on May 21, tens of thousands of people rallied in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, to express support for the country's pro-European course. More than 75,000 people participated in the demonstration in the centre of the capital, Chisinau, according to initial police estimates.