In 2016, the Netherlands organized a national referendum requesting citizens to vote for or against the backing of an association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. The results of the referendum were not favorable to Ukraine. Harry van Bommel, a left-wing member of the Dutch parliament, alongside the Socialist Party, used a group of “Ukrainians” to discredit Ukraine, during the referendum. In fact, they have proven to be Russian or ethnic Russians from the Ukrainian regions, controlled by the Russians, promoting a vision coinciding with that of the Kremlin.
In another example, there is a series of clues that Russia would have financed in 2016 the Brexit campaign in the UK. Arron Banks, considered the main brothel from which the Brexit campaign was funded, would have donated more than 13 million to various anti-EU projects. Making the largest political donation in British history, Banks came under the watch of British intelligence services, and Teresa May, who was the head of the British Interior Ministry blocked the investigation. We see in these examples many common points: Russia’s corrupting national elites in target countries, the use of Russian business people to integrate and operate in the target countries’ society.
A major challenge, especially in the Republic of Moldova, where public space is saturated with speculation and mutual accusations, is to identify hybrid aggression measures and separate them from natural political processes. It is important for the government to examine its economic relations and identify the sectors where the political interest dominates the economic interest. A possible solution would be to initiate negotiations with the European Union to open an EU Assistance Mission to Moldova and to help Moldova strengthen the capacity to combat hybrid aggression by strengthening state and social resilience in line with the EU’s Global Strategy.
In 2016, the Netherlands organized a national referendum requesting citizens to vote for or against the backing of an association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. The results of the referendum were not favorable to Ukraine. Harry van Bommel, a left-wing member of the Dutch parliament, alongside the Socialist Party, used a group of “Ukrainians” to discredit Ukraine, during the referendum. In fact, they have proven to be Russian or ethnic Russians from the Ukrainian regions, controlled by the Russians, promoting a vision coinciding with that of the Kremlin.
In another example, there is a series of clues that Russia would have financed in 2016 the Brexit campaign in the UK. Arron Banks, considered the main brothel from which the Brexit campaign was funded, would have donated more than 13 million to various anti-EU projects. Making the largest political donation in British history, Banks came under the watch of British intelligence services, and Teresa May, who was the head of the British Interior Ministry blocked the investigation. We see in these examples many common points: Russia’s corrupting national elites in target countries, the use of Russian business people to integrate and operate in the target countries’ society.
A major challenge, especially in the Republic of Moldova, where public space is saturated with speculation and mutual accusations, is to identify hybrid aggression measures and separate them from natural political processes. It is important for the government to examine its economic relations and identify the sectors where the political interest dominates the economic interest. A possible solution would be to initiate negotiations with the European Union to open an EU Assistance Mission to Moldova and to help Moldova strengthen the capacity to combat hybrid aggression by strengthening state and social resilience in line with the EU’s Global Strategy.