Moldova warns of Russian 'psy-ops' as tensions rise

Moldova's pro-EU leaders have rejected Russian claims that Ukraine is planning to attack the country's breakaway pro-Russian territory, and called for calm.

Russia's defence ministry alleged, with no evidence, that Ukrainian saboteurs would stage an invasion of Transnistria dressed as Russian soldiers as a pretext for a Ukrainian invasion.

"The defence ministry believes it is an element of a psychological operation rather than a real plan," said state secretary Valeriu Mija.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu, on a visit to neighbouring Romania, spoke of unprecedented security challenges ahead.

"Some wanted our country to fall and to install in Chisinau a puppet government enslaved to the interests of the Kremlin," she said.

Moldova is not part of Nato but last June it was awarded EU candidate status on the same day as Ukraine. Earlier this week the Moldovan leader met US President Joe Biden, who promised to support her country's sovereignty.

Speaking of psyops,...

Bots of Wagner’s owner flooded social media, demanding shells
YEVHEN KIZILOV
WEDNESDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2023
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/02/22/7390508/

After Vladimir Putin’s speech at a concert in Luzhniki Stadium, the bots [fake social media accounts] of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner Group private military company, flooded social media with comments demanding that the mercenaries be given shells.

Source: BBC News Russian on Telegram

https://t.me/bbcrussian/42260

Quote from the article: “If Vladimir Putin decides to check the comments or likes under his not the longest or most meaningful speech at the Luzhniki rally-concert in the evening, he will be surprised to find a crowd of bots demanding ‘Give Wagner shells’”.

Details:

The article says that in recent days, Prigozhin and his mercenaries have been trying to reach the Supreme Commander in Chief in a variety of ways to influence the General Staff, which has left the PMC without ammunition. They recorded videos, Prigozhin released full statements, and the leaders of Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov and Russia-occupied Crimea’s Sergei Aksyonov spoke in support of him.

The chief of Wagner even posted a photo with the bodies of dozens of mercenaries killed in one day, and his fighters resorted to theatrical performances, sometimes shooting the paper chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, and sometimes defecating on him.

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/02/22/7390477/

The agency concluded that by the spring of 2023, Prigozhin had apparently either lost access to Putin or the Defence Ministry had cut off his channels of rapid communication with the president, so in an attempt to solve the problem, he had to use bots in the comments section of the rally broadcast.

Background:
Recently, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group, has complained that his mercenaries were not receiving 80% of their ammunition and that the Russian Defence Ministry was lying to the public by saying that Wagner’s men had all the necessary ammunition.

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/02/21/7390404/

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It has also become known that Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov reportedly declined Prigozhin’s invitation to join an information campaign against the Russian Defense Ministry.

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