A secret Russian-funded network is attempting to disrupt upcoming democratic elections in an eastern European state, the BBC has found.
Using an undercover reporter, we discovered the network promised to pay participants if they posted pro-Russian propaganda and fake news undermining Moldova's pro-EU ruling party ahead of the country's 28 September parliamentary ballot.
Participants were paid to find supporters of Moldova's pro-Russia opposition to secretly record - and also to carry out a so-called poll. This was done in the name of a non-existent organisation, making it illegal. The results of this selective sampling, an organiser from the network suggested, could lay the groundwork to question the outcome of the election.
The results of the so-called poll, suggesting the ruling party will lose, have already been published online.
In fact, official polls suggest the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) founded by President Maia Sandu is currently ahead of the pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc (BEP).
We have found links between the secret network and Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor - sanctioned by the US for the Kremlin's malign influence operations and now a fugitive in Moscow. The UK has also sanctioned him for corruption.
We have also found links between the network and a non-profit organisation (NGO) called Evrazia.
Evrazia has connections to Mr Shor and was sanctioned by the UK, US and EU for allegedly bribing Moldovan citizens to vote against EU membership last year. The referendum on joining passed, but by a very small margin.
In 2024 the focus of [Ilan Shor's] campaign was money. This year the focus is disinformation, Moldova's chief of police, Viorel Cernauteanu, told the BBC World Service.
Moldova may be small, but sandwiched between Ukraine, and EU-member Romania, it has strategic significance for both Europe and the Kremlin, experts say.
The World Service infiltrated the network - coordinated on the messaging app Telegram - through a link sent to us by a whistleblower.
This gave us crucial insight into how an anti-democratic propaganda network operates.
