Discursul Președintei Maia Sandu la Forumul Păcii de la Paris

Your Excellencies,

 

President Macron, President Mahama, Prime Minister Pashinyan,

Distinguished guests, dear friends,

It is an honour to speak here today — at a forum that reminds us that peace begins with truth, and that truth itself must be defended.

Before the first missile struck our neighbour Ukraine, the first weapon was the lie. 

By the time the tanks crossed the border, the groundwork had been laid: Ukraine’s very right to exist had been mocked, and every effort had been made to blur the line between the aggressor and the victim.

Moldova is no stranger to Russia’s information war. But since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the manipulation of truth has reached terrifying new levels. Because Moldova refused to take the side of the aggressor, the Kremlin launched a furious campaign to undermine trust in the Moldovan state — to discredit the leadership, to divide our citizens, and to frighten them with the idea that if Moldova stood with Ukraine and with Europe, it would share Ukraine’s fate.

That fear — the fear of war — became a powerful tool of manipulation, used again and again throughout the past three elections. Other countries, including France, have come under attack — precisely because they stand firmly in support of Ukraine and in defence of democratic values.

Russia’s information manipulation goes even further — it seeks to erode public support for Europe’s own security and defence. It aims to convince citizens that investing in protection is provocation, that strength is escalation.

While Russia runs a war economy and wages hybrid warfare against many nations, it wants European democracies disarmed — politically, economically, and mentally. 

At our parliamentary elections last month, Russia used disinformation to undermine trust in free and fair voting and eventually capture power in Moldova. 

It is very clear: Russian propaganda is not a collection of random posts or noisy talk-show hosts. It is a strategic operation — an orchestrated campaign by an authoritarian regime to distort democracy abroad, corrode public trust, and manipulate elections in democratic states.

It exploits every difference — language, ethnicity, geography, history — turning diversity into division, neighbours into enemies.

And propaganda doesn’t come alone. It is part of a wider hybrid strategy that goes far beyond disinformation. It is fueled by illegal money and, in Moldova’s case, has even involved priests-turned-influencers spreading Kremlin narratives in churches and on TikTok.

Hybrid warfare, which authoritarian regimes use to undermine democracies elsewhere, mixes online manipulation with physical-world actions. 

It is not just digital; it operates across politics, religion, and society, creating pressure on institutions and deepening distrust. For us, it became clear that defending sovereignty, our right to choose our future, 

means defending the integrity of our information space — and those who keep it alive.

Before the party I founded came to power, Moldova’s media landscape was suffocating under oligarchic control.

We changed that. We worked to build a media environment where facts matter —

where journalists could work without fear, and where citizens could trust the information they receive.

Last year, Reporters Without Borders ranked Moldova 31st in the world for press freedom — a leap of more than fifty places since we began this transformation five years ago.

That progress was not only about freedom; it was about strength and our national security. Because when Russian malign influence intensified, our independent media — empowered and resilient — became the first line of defence.

In recent elections, investigative journalists uncovered troll farms,

exposed crypto-financed disinformation networks, vote buying schemes,

and revealed how Russia’s proxies tried to buy influence with dirty money and lies.

Their work helped citizens make informed choices — and helped our democracy withstand one of the most intense hybrid attacks in our history.

But this work came at a cost. Journalists have been harassed online, intimidated with threatening messages and phone calls, and targeted by cyberattacks in attempts to silence them.

So today I want to express Moldova’s gratitude to all our partners who support free and independent media — including the International Fund for Public Interest Media, our host today.

Moldova is proud to be among its first supporters. Your work strengthens not only journalism, but democracy itself. This support also helps media outlets survive unfair competition from Russian propaganda channels that operate with unlimited and opaque resources. Independent media in Moldova is funded transparently and legally; Russian propaganda outlets are not.

That is why we strengthened our legal framework, gave our Broadcasting Council stronger tools to act, and — in some cases — made difficult decisions to suspend channels that spread disinformation or glorified war.

We did this not to silence opinions, but to protect citizens’ right to reliable information. Even so, manipulation persists — through more than three hundred Russian-language TV channels that blend entertainment with propaganda, humour with hate, normalising Russia’s aggression against independent states and undermining trust in democracy. Eventually, the best antidote is regulation combined with resilience — a long term effort helping people see manipulation for what it is.

As we improved the landscape for traditional broadcasting, the battlefield shifted online. Unlike television, the digital space remains largely unregulated.

Social-media platforms — once a promise of freedom and transparency —

have become vast theatres of manipulation.

Authoritarian regimes that suppress free expression at home use these same platforms to undermine democracies abroad. They exploit the openness of our societies to spread manipulation, while denying their own citizens that very freedom.

During our 2025 parliamentary elections, Russian-linked networks used Telegram, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram to flood Moldovan users with fabricated news, deepfakes, and coordinated propaganda. Troll farms operating inside Moldova generated tens of millions of views.

The BBC infiltrated one such network of about one hundred fake TikTok accounts.

The U.S. Digital Forensic Research Lab later found that these accounts amassed over 55 million views — in a country of just 2.4 million people.

One political party, with almost no presence on the ground, was suddenly propelled into Parliament by a campaign that existed almost entirely on TikTok.

This should alarm us all. What happened in Moldova in the last three polls, or in Romania last year, can happen anywhere — in your national elections, or in the next European Parliament vote.

If algorithms reward outrage instead of accuracy, and opacity instead of accountability, then democracies are fighting on a battlefield they do not control —

against adversaries who exploit it ruthlessly.

So we must ask ourselves:

Are we still promoting freedom of expression — or are we allowing it to be hijacked by those who seek to silence genuine voices?

How do we protect liberty while curbing industrial-scale manipulation?

Moldova’s experience shows that we must act — together — to restore integrity to the information space.

What is illegal offline must also be illegal online. Platforms must follow their own rules — and the law. They should provide real access to data, disclose who pays for amplification, and submit to independent audits of moderation and political advertising.

We must follow the money. No platform should accept political or advertising payments from sanctioned individuals or entities. If the money is dirty it cannot be treated as business as usual. Free speech is for real people — not for armies of bots. Democracies must explicitly exclude fake or non-human entities

from free-speech protections, especially during elections. And because hybrid threats do not stop at the Schengen line, Europe must also grow — enlargement is not charity, it is security.

By integrating the democracies that stand on the frontline, Europe becomes larger, stronger, and more resilient — able to defend its democracies, its citizens, and its way of life.

Finally, Europe’s Democracy Shield must deliver concrete tools to protect democratic debate from manipulation and illicit influence. Because defending democracy cannot wait for the next crisis. To defend democracy, Europe must act as one — big, strong and united to resist hostile powers seeking to divide us.

Dear friends, 

peace cannot survive without information integrity, and democracies cannot survive without those who protect it — journalists, citizens, and leaders alike.

Moldova is deeply grateful for France’s leadership and its steadfast support in helping us withstand Russian hybrid attacks and advance on our path towards EU membership.

Together, we defend not only our nations, but the very idea of a free and united Europe. Thank you.