Sandu: Russia Will Remain Major Threat to Europe Even After Ukraine War Ends

Moldovan President Maia Sandu warned Friday that Russia will remain a major source of instability in Europe long after the war in Ukraine ends, regardless of whether Vladimir Putin remains in power, urging Europe to strengthen militarily, accelerate EU enlargement and treat Ukraine as a central pillar of the continent’s future security. Speaking alongside Finnish President Alexander Stubb at the fifth annual Helsinki Security Forum, Sandu described Moldova’s experience confronting Russian hybrid warfare – from political financing and voter bribery to cyberattacks, disinformation, energy pressure and repeated violations of Moldovan airspace.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “Moldova enjoys peace today thanks to the courage of the Ukrainian people, of the Ukrainian leadership, and thanks to the support that you and many other friends of Ukraine have been providing,” Sandu told the forum. The Moldovan president argued that her small country also plays a significant security role because preventing Moscow from gaining political control over Moldova protects Ukraine’s southwestern flank. “If we would have allowed Russia to get to control power in Moldova, you could imagine what the situation would look today, given that Moldova has a pretty long border with Ukraine – 1,200 kilometers – and you can imagine what Russia could have done to Ukraine using the Russian proxies in Moldova,” Sandu said. Other Topics of Interest Zelensky: Putin’s Goal Is Not Donbas but All of Ukraine Zelensky says Putin’s rhetoric exposes a broader drive to restore Soviet-era influence, warning that Baltic states and Russia’s neighbors also face pressure. Russia’s hybrid war against Moldova Sandu described a wide-ranging Russian campaign against Moldova that has intensified around elections. She said Moscow has used energy blackmail, illicit political financing, attempts to bribe voters, cyberattacks, false bomb threats and large-scale disinformation. “We do not depend on Russian gas anymore,” Sandu said. “We do not depend on Russian trade, but at some point we had quite a big share.” When those traditional tools of economic pressure became less effective, she said, Moscow shifted toward other methods. “In our case, this was dirty money to try to corrupt politicians, to try to finance political campaigns. These were attempts to even bribe voters. This was cyberattacks. This was trying to shut down [voting through] false bomb alerts during the day of the election, and then of course a lot of disinformation and manipulation.” Sandu said one of Moldova’s most effective responses has been exposing the mechanisms of Russian interference publicly rather than allowing them to operate in the shadows. “What we did, we exposed it together with the press, so it was a whole-society response,” she said. But combating Russian money in elections requires much more than public messaging, Sandu stressed. “You need to have everybody: the agency for fighting money laundering. You need to have the intelligence service. You need to have the tax inspectorate. You need to have the police,” she said. “It has to be a very well-coordinated effort by all the institutions, and it has to be very good communication for the people to see the risks. Because if they don’t see the risks, then it’s very difficult for them to protect themselves and their votes.” ‘Seven or eight’ Russian drones in one week Sandu said the pressure on Moldova is not confined to information warfare. “In addition to all the problems and the bigger number of violations of our airspace, just in the last week we had seven or eight Russian drones violating our airspace,” she said. The Moldovan president said such incidents, combined with high energy prices and Russia’s war against neighboring Ukraine, have created immediate security concerns for Chisinau. But she warned Europe not to mistake those pressures for a temporary problem that disappears when fighting eventually stops. “I think it’s very clear that Russia will continue to be a major source of instability for many years to come, regardless of whether Putin is still there or not after this war,” Sandu said. “This is not just a short-term challenge or a mid-term challenge.” Europe, she argued, must emerge from the war substantially better prepared than it was before Russia launched its full-scale invasion. “This means Europe needs to be strong militarily,” Sandu said. “We should all understand that Ukraine is going to be a very important pillar of the security in Europe.” Any eventual dialogue with Russia, she added, should come “from the position of strength, with one voice,” while ensuring Moscow is held accountable for crimes committed against Ukraine. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.