NYT: Putin aimed to break up NATO and the European Union by 2026
He wanted to achieve this through Moldova. Sources said that in the run-up to the September 2025 elections, Moldovan youth were trained in camps in Serbia and Bosnia to use weapons and organize demonstrations. However, those who had returned from such camps before the elections were identified and arrested. In the elections, Maia Sandu's party, which favors rapprochement with the West, retained its advantage.
According to the NYT, Vladimir Putin met with military commanders in late 2025 and set a goal of "disintegrating NATO and the European Union from within" by 2026. This information was reported by The New York Times, citing officials familiar with the details of the meeting.
The interlocutors of the publication noted that Moldova occupied a significant place in these plans. According to Western intelligence services, the Kremlin's priority list includes the subjugation of Ukraine, and the establishment of control over Moldova in second place. At the same time, Putin, at a meeting of the expanded board of the Ministry of Defense, criticized European leaders for "hystericalizing" about the threat of an attack by Russia. He said: "I have said it many times: this is a lie, nonsense, just nonsense about an imaginary threat from Russia to European countries."
According to the NYT interviewees, Moldova could be an ideal springboard for Russia to further aggression against both Ukraine and the West. They added that Putin still hopes to seize territory in southern Ukraine to create a land corridor connecting Russia with Moldova.
To this end, Russia has attempted to interfere in the parliamentary elections in Moldova on September 28, 2025, through cyberattacks, disinformation, as well as vote buying and propaganda.
The Kremlin campaign also involved Moldovan priests. They were supposed to travel to Russia, obtain Promsvyazbank debit cards there, then return to Moldova and, in exchange for bonuses, persuade churchgoers to reject the referendum on Moldova's accession to the European Union, as well as to speak out against pro-Western policies. At the time, the Moldovan parliamentary elections were considered "historic" and the country's future European integration depended on their results.
That summer, a training camp was set up in Serbia, where participants (most of whom were Moldovan citizens) were trained to use rifles, break through police barriers and set buildings on fire. They were paid $400 each for the three- to four-day course. The instructors at the camp were linked to the Russian military intelligence agency (GRU), and the aim was to train a group of fighters trained to interfere in the elections, Western intelligence officials say.
A similar camp was set up in Bosnia, as well as near Moscow. According to Moldovan prosecutors, the participants in these trainings (more than 100 young Moldovan citizens) learned how to make and use incendiary devices and improvised explosive devices, as well as how to handle "drones with explosives attached."
Stanislav Sekrieiru, the Moldovan president's national security and defense adviser, said that Russia wanted to use Moldova "as a springboard for hostile actions against Ukraine, as well as against the European Union, its main defense and financial donor." He added: "That is why Russia has directed unprecedented resources to these goals in the past few years."
According to the NYT, the Moldovan government has been ready for this. In the weeks leading up to the vote, Moldovan law enforcement agencies raided hundreds of homes and arrested people who had been trained at training camps, while local cyber experts, with the help of Western allies, thwarted hacking attacks. In the election, Maia Sandu's party retained a majority in parliament. "We have won the battle. But we have not won the war yet," said Mihai Lupashcu, director of the Moldovan Cybersecurity Agency.