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A fake video has been posted on Russian Telegram channels, featuring Euronews’ graphics and claiming that corruption has pushed Moldova to become one of the biggest black markets for arms sales.
Euronews neither produced nor published this video. Our graphics and format were copied and used without our consent, and our teams are working to ensure the video is removed from all social platforms.
It appeared in a Telegram channel called the “Military Observer” in Russian and has amassed more than 16,000 views at the time of writing.
The video alleges that high levels of corruption in Moldova’s armed forces mean that the country is now “the largest hub for the black market in weapons.”
Arms traffickers allegedly use Moldova as a buffer zone for the illegal export of weapons from Ukraine and distribute them elsewhere in Europe and beyond, according to the false video.
It attributes a quote to Clara Staicu, Romania’s secretary of state for European affairs, in which she supposedly calls Moldova “a perfect transit point for arms traffickers” due to its small size and widespread corruption.
It also alleges that the situation has worsened over the past four years, during the presidency of Maia Sandu.
The video strongly resembles a Euronews report, but its contents are false.
It is unclear where any of the claims in the video supposedly come from and there appears to be no evidence for any of them.
However, it is true that Interpol has previously expressed concern about weapons smuggling in Moldova linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
It has launched several initiatives to try and combat the black market of arms, including Project I-FORCE, which aims to bolster the capabilities of law enforcement agencies in Moldova and neighbouring countries to combat international organised crime.
Additionally, Transparency International’s most recent Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Moldova as one of the lowest in Europe for clean money, above only Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Hungary and Albania.
The Moldova video follows hot on the heels of another fake video that was attributed to Euronews and spread online last week, alleging that Romania cautioned French authorities over interference in the Romanian presidential election runoff.
Romanian and French authorities, as well as Euronews, all denounced that video and its contents as false.
The Moldovan president’s office, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Interpol did not immediately respond to our requests for comment. We will update this article when we hear from them.
