Damned Christians

[Fake Messiah]

Holy war: How Russia recruited Orthodox priests to sway Moldova’s voters

Russia paid for Moldovan Orthodox priests to make Moscow pilgrimages and gave them debit cards loaded with hundreds of dollars on their return home. In exchange, priests created Telegram channels to influence Moldova's elections, warning against integration with the European Union and promoting traditional values over ‘gay Europe.’

"The most immoral feature of Russian electoral interference in elections in Moldova is the use of the most trusted institution — the Church." Stanislav Secrieru, national security adviser to Moldova's president

Moldova, a small, deeply religious nation in eastern Europe, holds crucial parliamentary elections on Sunday that could thwart its advance towards EU membership. The country is uniquely caught between Russia and the West: while it gained formal independence from Moscow in 1991, its Orthodox church – a revered institution followed by the bulk of its 2.4 million population – remains a subordinate branch of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Almost 90 new Telegram channels have been established as the accounts of Moldovan Orthodox parishes over the past year, according to a Reuters review of social media data. Most channels have pumped out identical content on a near-daily basis, urging the faithful to oppose the government’s pro-Western push in posts that have reached thousands of followers, the analysis found.

The overarching message is that Moldova’s traditional family values are under threat from an EU that will force citizens to embrace LGBT identities, degrade morals and destroy freedom of worship. While posts aren't explicitly pro-Russian, they echo the narratives pushed by opposition parties that advocate closer ties with Moscow.

“Today our country stands before a fateful choice. We are being advised to abandon faith, language, and our roots in exchange for foreign rules and ‘European values’,” said one message posted on September 18 by 39 of the parish channels reviewed. Russian is commonly spoken in the country alongside official language Romanian.

The targeting of the Moldovan church is part of a broader shadow war being waged by the Kremlin to influence the pivotal election, including online disinformation that pushes anti-Western narratives, cyberattacks on critical state infrastructure and clandestine support for politicians sympathetic to Moscow, according to the Moldovan government as well as many Western diplomats and think-tanks.

Speaking to Reuters afterwards about his differences with the ruling party, Archbishop Marchel said the danger of integrating with Europe was Moldovans having to accept Western values such as permitting homosexuality.

“It’s the worst sin,” he said. “To cultural, Christian Europe, I say yes. To gay Europe, I say no. If you come with gays, then don't come at all.”

https://www.reuters.com/investigations/h...025-09-26/