Orthodox Priests at the Heart of Russia’s Influence Campaign in Moldova
Casal dels Infants – Father Mihai Bicu, an Orthodox priest from Moldova, recalls his unusual experience returning from Moscow, Russia last September. Russian Orthodox leaders treated the 39-year-old and dozens of other clergymen to a fully funded pilgrimage to some of the church’s holiest sites.
They received shopping vouchers worth 10,000 rubles at church souvenir stores and attended lectures by theologians and historians. The lecturers declared that Russia and Moldova have long been bound by Orthodox tradition and faith and must unite against what they portrayed as a morally corrupt West.
Before heading back to Moldova, Bicu said he received a debit card from a Russian state-owned bank. Shortly after his return, his account received a deposit of about $1,200. His sponsors asked him and his colleagues to create parish social media channels and spread the message that the pro-Western government’s push toward the European Union threatened the people’s faith and morality.
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Moldova, a small Eastern European country with a population of around 2.4 million, is deeply religious. Most of its people belong to the Orthodox Church, which remains under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. This makes the Church one of the most trusted institutions in the country.
However, people now see that trust as vulnerable to manipulation. Investigators revealed that hundreds of Moldovan clergy and parishioners joined similar trips to Russia between June and October 2024. Soon after, nearly 90 new Telegram channels emerged under the names of Moldovan Orthodox parishes. These channels began posting near-daily messages opposing the government’s pro-European policies.
The campaign content claimed that EU membership would destroy Moldova’s traditional family values. The messages warned citizens they would be “forced” to embrace LGBT identities, lose their moral compass, and face restrictions on religious freedom.
Although the posts did not always mention Russia directly, they closely aligned with the narratives promoted by pro-Moscow opposition parties. Between May and August 2025, the central channel Sare şi Lumiña published more than 600 posts, triple the number from the previous four months, and illustrated how the campaign intensified as elections approached.
Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Moldova has remained caught between Russia and the West. People in Moldova speak Romanian as the official language, but they also widely use Russian. Now, the country’s voters will decide in a crucial parliamentary election whether to continue moving toward EU membership or to strengthen ties with Moscow.
One viral message posted on parish channels on September 18 read:
“Today our country stands at a crossroads. Propaganda urges us to abandon our faith, language, and cultural roots in exchange for foreign rules and ‘European values.’ Will Moldova preserve its independence, or become a bridgehead for outside interests?”
The Kremlin has denied any interference. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted that the elections were solely for the Moldovan people to decide. “Russia always condemns interference in the internal affairs of other countries. It never does this itself,” he said, while expressing hope that political forces favoring close ties with Russia would prevail.
Both the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow and the Moldovan Orthodox Church in Chisinau declined to comment on the matter.
The Moldovan government and several Western diplomats say the Kremlin wages a broader shadow war, with church networks as only one element. Other tactics include cyberattacks on state infrastructure, disinformation campaigns, and covert support for pro-Russian politicians. Moscow has dismissed all these accusations as baseless.
Digital footprints and interviews with several priests suggest that political actors are leveraging the Orthodox network to shape public opinion. Evidence shows that political operatives and social media specialists linked to the Russian government orchestrated this effort.
Political actors in Moldova weaponize religion, turning a spiritual and moral refuge into a political tool. For many Moldovans, the Orthodox Church is a symbol of identity and hope. Yet amid geopolitical rivalry, it has become a frontline battlefield of influence between Russia and the West.
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This information is sourced from Reuters. Father Mihai Bicu, an Orthodox priest from Moldova, recalls his unusual experience returning from Moscow, Russia last September. Read the full article on CasaldelsInfants.
|Author: Lukman Azhari
|Editor: Anna Hidayat
