Russian Disinformation Campaign Targets 2025 Moldovan Elections
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A state-backed Russian threat actor, tracked as Storm-1679 (aka Matryoshka), is targeting the 2025 Moldovan parliamentary elections with a disinformation campaign. The campaign aims to disrupt Moldova's political landscape and its efforts to join the European Union. The disinformation efforts include biased news articles and false headlines against the current Moldovan leadership. The campaign has ties to the Russian propaganda organization Absatz, which has been active since 2022. The campaign involves multiple websites that share common technical fingerprints, indicating infrastructure reuse and common ownership. The threat actor has been operating since at least 2022, using the same IP addresses for previous disinformation efforts. The campaign is designed to avoid detection and legal intervention by not including malware or malicious trackers.
Timeline
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24.09.2025 23:01 1 articles · 19h ago
Russian Disinformation Campaign Targets 2025 Moldovan Elections
A state-backed Russian threat actor, Storm-1679 (aka Matryoshka), is targeting the 2025 Moldovan parliamentary elections with a disinformation campaign. The campaign includes biased news articles and false headlines against the current Moldovan leadership. The disinformation efforts have ties to the Russian propaganda organization Absatz, which has been active since 2022. The campaign involves multiple websites that share common technical fingerprints, indicating infrastructure reuse and common ownership. The threat actor has been operating since at least 2022, using the same IP addresses for previous disinformation efforts. The campaign is designed to avoid detection and legal intervention by not including malware or malicious trackers.
Show sources
- Russia Targets Moldovan Election in Disinformation Play — www.darkreading.com — 24.09.2025 23:01
Information Snippets
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The threat actor Storm-1679 (aka Matryoshka) is targeting the 2025 Moldovan elections with a disinformation campaign.
First reported: 24.09.2025 23:011 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Russia Targets Moldovan Election in Disinformation Play — www.darkreading.com — 24.09.2025 23:01
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The campaign includes biased news articles and false headlines against the current Moldovan leadership.
First reported: 24.09.2025 23:011 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Russia Targets Moldovan Election in Disinformation Play — www.darkreading.com — 24.09.2025 23:01
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The disinformation campaign has ties to the Russian propaganda organization Absatz, registered with Roskomnadzor in March 2022.
First reported: 24.09.2025 23:011 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Russia Targets Moldovan Election in Disinformation Play — www.darkreading.com — 24.09.2025 23:01
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The campaign uses multiple websites with common technical fingerprints, indicating infrastructure reuse and common ownership.
First reported: 24.09.2025 23:011 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Russia Targets Moldovan Election in Disinformation Play — www.darkreading.com — 24.09.2025 23:01
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The same IP addresses used in the 2025 campaign were also used in a 2022 disinformation effort, suggesting developer ties.
First reported: 24.09.2025 23:011 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Russia Targets Moldovan Election in Disinformation Play — www.darkreading.com — 24.09.2025 23:01
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The campaign avoids detection and legal intervention by not including malware or malicious trackers.
First reported: 24.09.2025 23:011 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Russia Targets Moldovan Election in Disinformation Play — www.darkreading.com — 24.09.2025 23:01