Moldovan president Maia Sandu is blunt when she explains why people in Ireland should be concerned about Russia.
“Russia is a threat to everyone,” she said, adding that countries not located within Moscow’s orbit probably do not experience the threat of a conventional war “as we feel it, and as it happens in Ukraine”.
“Russia has also learned that it’s easier to impose its will through hybrid wars than through boots on the ground,” she said.
Sandu, who spoke to The Irish Times during a visit to Dublin on Wednesday, said this has been seen in Moldova in terms of Russian efforts to interfere in elections which she said have been “brutal”.
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In other countries “it’s not going to be brutal”, she said, but it could be “manipulation of information” and “people need to be aware that Russia is trying to influence their choice”.
During her Irish visit, Sandu met President Catherine Connolly and Taoiseach Micheál Martin. The engagement at Government Buildings included the signing of an agreement between Ireland and Moldova on the mutual recognition of driving licences.
But bigger issues were also discussed with the Taoiseach, including Moldova’s ambition to join the European Union.
A small, landlocked country, Moldova sits between Romania and Ukraine. Sandu outlined how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine saw more than a million refugees cross into Moldova and that “for a population of 2.4 million this was quite a challenge”. Some 130,000 Ukrainians are still living there.
The war sparked an energy crisis for Moldova – which has since eliminated its dependency on Russian gas – and the economy has been “significantly affected”.
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Sandu said Moldova’s airspace had been “violated constantly” and Russian Shahed drones had landed in people’s yards and on their roofs. A recent attack on a hydropower plant in Ukraine left 300,000 people in her country without safe drinking water.
Aside from the war in Ukraine, Sandu said Moscow had maintained a separatist regime and a small number of troops in Moldova’s Transnistria region. She described Russia’s involvement there as an attempt to “undermine Moldova’s development”, but added “we are working hard to bring the region closer” with a view to reintegration.
First elected president in 2020, Sandu was returned in 2024. A referendum the same year saw voters back proposals to change Moldova’s constitution and commit to joining the EU. Her pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity beat Russian-leaning opponents in parliamentary elections last year.
Moldovan authorities accused Russia of interference in those recent electoral contests, with Sandu saying there were cyberattacks, attempts to bribe voters, illegal financing of political parties and bomb alerts.
Asked how she would respond to Russian denials of election interference, Sandu said: “We have proof and we have shared this proof with everybody, including international institutions.”
During a joint press conference, the Taoiseach commended Sandu and the Moldovan authorities “for safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process during their parliamentary elections last September in the face of unrelenting interference and hybrid activity from Russia”.
He said: “There are valuable lessons to be learned from how the Moldovan government was able to withstand and repel Russian attempts to interfere with their democratic processes.”
Moldova’s ambition is to join the EU by 2030. Sandu said the European Commission had praised Moldova’s progress in an initial technical phase of negotiations.
“The most significant reform that we are undertaking is the justice sector reform and strengthening the capacity of the anti-corruption institutions,” she said.
Moldova’s hope is that formal negotiations on EU membership can begin during Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union later this year. Martin said progressing Moldova’s accession negotiations will be “a priority” when Ireland holds the presidency.
“Our ambition must be to open all negotiating clusters for Moldova and for Ukraine,” and “current blockages to this are deeply frustrating and must be overcome”, he said.
Sandu said Moldova had examined Ireland’s experience of EU membership and how it “transformed” the country.
“There is a lot we can learn and we’re very grateful that Ireland has been supportive to Moldova’s EU integration path and Ireland has been helping us during these last few years when we had to face so many crisis situations.”
