On October 20 and November 3, presidential elections and a European integration referendum were held in Moldova. The citizens of the republic said “yes” to constitutional amendments required for European integration and re-elected a pro-European politician, Maia Sandu, as head of state.
Moldova, a former Soviet republic, is geographically and geopolitically closely connected to the Western Balkans. In the 2000s, the country was even involved in European integration projects together with the Western Balkans. In particular, in 2006, Moldova joined the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) at the same time as WB6 – Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, North Macedonia, and Kosovo. However, in the end, Moldova ended up in a different European integration boat – together with the countries that were once part of the USSR – Ukraine and Georgia. But the proximity of Moldova to the Balkan region remains in place.
The current election campaign in Moldova has again demonstrated this close connection. Unfortunately, in a negative context…
A network of provocateurs
Three days prior to the first round of presidential elections and the referendum, the heads of law enforcement agencies and security agencies in Moldova announced the exposure of the network that organized training abroad for over a hundred youngsters who were tasked with staging provocations before, during, and after the voting. According to the Moldovan authorities, the members of that network, citizens of Moldova, have received appropriate training in Russia, as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. The purpose of the “training” network was to create “squads” of provocateurs to organize mass riots if the course of the election campaign and the results of the vote did not suit the Kremlin.
Police have released candid camera footage of purported training sessions in Russia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It can be seen that young people practiced setting up protests under slogans like “our language is Russian” or “we don’t want to go to Europe.” In the camps based in the Balkans, the training was more serious, where instructors affiliated with the Russian private military companies Ferma and Wagner taught the youths to manufacture IEDs and fly drones.
One hundred members of the network were raided. Four were detained. In addition, the intelligence agency of Moldova identified 11 foreign citizens who worked in training camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.
The project to destabilize Moldova was financed by the pro-Russian Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor, who is on the wanted list for his involvement in the embezzlement of about $1 billion from the republic’s banking system a decade ago.
“Moldovan camps” in Bosnia and Herzegovina
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the topic of “Moldovan camps” provoked a fiery reaction among politicians and officials.
The BiH Ministry of Security immediately denied the report released by the Moldovan authorities. “The security agencies of Bosnia and Herzegovina have no data that somewhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in particular, in Republika Srpska, there are camps where people from Moldova are allegedly being trained,” the agency said. BiH Security Minister Nenad Nesic, who is a member of Milorad Dodik’s team, emphasized that “there is no relevant evidence or materials that would indicate that anything like that indeed happened in BiH.”
Instead, the Intelligence and Security Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (OSA) said they have data on a group of individuals, citizens of Russia and Moldova, who “have been in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the past 90 days”, and who, according to the Moldovan police, were related to the training of potential participants in alleged protests in Moldova.
Training in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to intelligence, took place on the territory of Republika Srpska, at a site near Banja Luka.
BiH Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic also confirmed that people who “trained members of the Moldovan teams on behalf and at the expense of the Russian Federation” arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “I don’t have exact evidence and examples that these were some types of military training sessions, but there were definitely some types of training for organizing some protests or street actions,” Konakovic told reporters.
Ilja Cvitanovic, head of the parliamentary commission for control of the Intelligence and Security Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, provided nearly the same information. He confirmed the data on the stay of foreigners “from the East” in BiH, but denied that it was specifically about training in paramilitary camps. “We have not seen the details because this is a classified matter, but there are no camps. At some point, there were suspicious citizens from the East in BiH, but it was not about any camps,” Cvitanovic said.
The head of the parliamentary commission believes that the Ministry of Security and Minister Nenad Nesic denied everything because they did not have information on this matter, as they had no access to OSA’s intelligence.
In his opinion, the lack of a timely response from the Intelligence and Security Agency to the training of Moldovans on the territory of BiH is explained by the fact that the information about it “came too late, after everything was completed, and they could not react earlier.” Currently, numerous state bodies Bosnia and Herzegovina is involved in the investigation, and full information is still awaited. “OSA is cooperating with the border police, the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, the process is ongoing,” Cvitanovic said.
Alarming messages
The United States Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina assessed reports of Russians affiliated with Russian private military groups operating a camp in Republika Srpska and training participants in the disruption of democratic processes in Moldova as extremely troubling. The existence of this camp must be thoroughly investigated, and those responsible for facilitating such activities must be brought to justice, the US Embassy’s public affairs department said.
For the President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, the topic of “Moldovan camps in the RS” turned out to be so relevant that he discussed it during negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan. “The American embassy reported that there are allegedly camps in Republika Srpska that we jointly organized with you to destabilize Moldova. This is an absolute lie,” Dodik said at the meeting with Putin.
After returning from Kazan, Dodik convened a “large format” meeting in East Sarajevo to discuss the situation. “I have invited all representatives from the armed forces, Ministry of Defense at the BiH level, the Ministry of Security, representatives of the police, prime minister, members of the presidency, deputies, delegates, representatives of civil defense, and others,” he said.
However, no details of the meeting were reported, and comments on this topic practically stopped flowing. Why?
Likely because the information from the security agencies in Moldova was largely confirmed not only by the security agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also – albeit briefly – by those in Serbia.
Radenka village
Simultaneously with the public announcement by the Moldovan security agencies of the exposure in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia of training centers for Moldovan citizens to organize riots at the elections, the Serbian Security Information Agency, BIA, together with the police and the prosecutor’s office, conducted a special raid against an ad hoc paramilitary training camp for foreigners.
The camp was located on the outskirts of the village of Radenka near Kucevo, not far from the border with Romania.
The raid found four drones with associated equipment, VR equipment, StarLink satellite communications kits, radios, phosphorous and other flammable liquids, as well as watches believed to have been used to set off explosives, and other dual-purpose gear.
Serbian authorities provided no information on who had set up the camp, for what purposes, and whether anyone was detained.
However, experts claim that this was part of the “Moldova case”.
Military analyst Aleksandar Radić told Serbian media the actions of the BIA are clearly related to reports coming from Moldova. “It can be assumed that the information about who used the said camp and for what purpose was forwarded to the appropriate address, but the general public in Serbia, as usual, was denied access to this information, which is already a tradition. Of course, this is news that the government of Serbia perceives as unpleasant, and therefore they will do everything to minimize it for the domestic public,” he said.
General picture
In conclusion, the general picture looks as follows.
Probably, a certain number of Moldovan citizens prior to the elections and referendum visited Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Serbia to take part in “educational programs” organized by the Russians. The purpose of these “courses” was, obviously, the formation of groups of provocateurs for leading street riots during and after the elections in Moldova, if the results of the vote do not suit Moscow.
Likely, it was about the initiation of supposedly authentic public protests, which, thanks to trained pseudo-activists, would turn into riots, during which “graduates” of paramilitary camps would come into play.
Judging by the available reports, it is possible that in Republika Srpska (BiH) training sessions were organized for the civilian part of the alleged actions, while in Serbia, “students” were taught in line with a more militarized curriculum.
One can only guess what a huge amount of work was done by the security agencies and law enforcement in Moldova to discover the network and expose the plot. The exposure likely largely ensured a calm ballot casting, vote count, and announcement of results.
But this story is far from finished.
Today it is clear that Russia is using and intends to continue using Republika Srpska and Serbia as a springboard for training subversive groups to engage in hybrid warfare on the territory of Europe.
The exposure by the Moldovan security agencies neutralized a single network created specifically for Moldova. But in conditions where local security agencies in both BiH and Serbia, as it turned out, cannot or do not want to nab such networks on their own, no one can guarantee that a similar scheme will not be employed by the Russians for other cases and directions. It is possible that such work is already underway.
