How George Simion's Gold Party expands its influence in the Republic of Moldova with the support of Kremlin

Chisinau is preparing for decisive parliamentary elections for the European future. External influences come from both the east and from the west, through the extremist gold party in Romania, which has expanded its activity over Prut and has links with the Kremlin, according to a Watchdog.md analysis.

Gold from Chisinau is led by Boris Volosatîi. Photo: Facebook

The Alliance Party for the Union of Romanians (gold) in Romania has expanded its activity and rhetoric in the Republic of Moldova before the parliamentary elections on September 28. It does it in an aggressive way, creating a network of sites with manipulative content that distribute the propaganda of the formation, according to watchdog.md.

“In many cases, this propaganda presents numerous convergence points with the Kremlin discourse”, stresses Rodica Pîrgari, the author of the analysis that is expert in monitoring the misinformation of the Watchdog.md community.

George Simion's urge

The network became visible following the statements made by the Gold leader, George Simion, who accused the leader of Chisinau, Maia Sandu, of involvement in the presidential elections in the spring of 2025, which he lost before Nicușor Dan.

“My dear, our victory was stolen by specific methods. It's time to take our revenge. It's time, for example, Maia Sandu, Macron's friend, Nicușor's friend, is also a political defeat. And that is why, I will ask each one to vote if you have the citizenship of the Republic of Moldova (…). It takes about 100,000 votes so that Maia Sandu does not win anymore ”, said George Simion in June in a video posted on Facebook.

But the statements should not be considered only mere comments, they represent a clear and direct urge to the citizens of the Republic of Moldova regarding the support of the pro-Russian parties. The central role in George Simion's strategy returns to the propaganda network created by gold in the Republic of Moldova.

The WatchDog.md community has identified at least eight sites involved in this network, including, “60m.md, time.md, politics24.tv, critici.net, ten.tv, gazamoldovei.com, Moldores.info and investigators.md”. Some of them publish materials for the fight against Ruse, provides apparent credibility.

“The 60m.md site works as the” heavy artillery “of this structure, being characterized by a content dominated by manipulative titles. In parallel, the platform investigators.md contains a single article, created especially to be distributed on social networks. In order to amplify its impact and expand the area of influence, the entire network resorts to paid Facebook advertising campaigns. Frequently promoted messages are titles and labels such as “Moldova, Soros Republic”, “How Maia Sandu President became with the help of the Kremlin”, “The NGO State: Moldova in the hands of pseudo-civic networks” or “What the communists could succeed. Bogdan Țîrdea.

The Gold Fake Laboratory, indirectly funded from the state budget of Romania, several journalistic investigations revealed the central role of Marius Lulea, first vice-president of the Gold Party, in the coordination of the propaganda ecosystem. Lulea was directly involved in managing the online propaganda department. He is also the person who transmitted the login data for several sites that claim to be independent publications to a member of this department. These platforms include time.md, controlled by Silviu Tanase, gold member, originally from the Republic of Moldova. An investigation launched by Rise Project shows the connections that Silviu Tanase has with gold and how the site it controls is funded. According to the investigation, the leaders of Gold, George Simion and Marius Lulea, directed the public subsidies granted to the formation to Tanase. Through three companies controlled by Tanase, Gold received the sum of eight million lei, money settled by the state. The amount comes from the state budget of Romania, although gold officially claims that it has “voluntarily” renounced state funding. This mechanism brings to light a well -developed “laboratory” and manipulations, funded from the state budget of Romania “, MAI notes Rodica Pîrgari.

Gold organized

Gold is not limited to online propaganda. The extremist formation in Romania was directly involved in the organization of the “Make Europe Again” Conference (Mega), held last month in Chisinau, the event bringing together conservatives and sovereign members of gold, as well as Moldovan politicians from seemingly divergent camps. The list includes Vasile Costiuc, the leader of the Democracy Party (PDA), Igor Munteanu, the president of the coalition for unity and well -being (Cub), Gaik Vartanean, member of the national alternative movement (MAN), led by Chisinau, Ion Ceban. The same event was attended by the people of the fugitive oligarch Ilan Șor, such as Victoria Furtuna, but also the former prime minister Vlad Filat.

“Brian Brown, the president of the International Family Organization, was invited to the event, who later met with both the mayor of the capital Ion Ceban and the leader of the socialists Igor Dodon. Among the participants was the gold MEP Adrian Axinia, who claimed that his formation was responsible for both the organization and the financing of the event, promising transparency in the financial reports. However, his statements were quickly challenged by his colleague Valeriu Munteanu, who indicated another organization as responsible for financing. The confusion was deepened by the statements of the Moldovan politician Vasile Costiuc, who mentioned that the funds came from two associations – one of the United States and one affiliated with the European Parliament. This lack of coherence and clarity raises serious question marks on the transparency and real nature of the influence networks that gravitate around gold. The event in Chisinau seems to be still a “laboratory” of this expansion strategy, with implications that exceed the political sphere and reach sensitive areas of information security “add the Watchdog.md representative.

Moreover, the Alliance Party for the Union of Romanians (Gold) in the Republic of Moldova has recently announced that it will participate in the parliamentary elections, a decision adopted within the National Political Council.

“Although it displays an unionist rhetoric, the formation masks the influence not only of the Gold Party in Romania, but also connections with Russian interests. The extension of the influence of gold in the Republic of Moldova can no longer be regarded as a simple coincidence or an isolated skid. From the networks of false sites powered by Romanian public funds, to Pseudo-European events such as the Mega Conference and direct participation in elections, gold strengthens its presence in the Republic of Moldova. This happens through a combination of misinformation, populism and opaque partnerships with controversial characters from the local political space. It is about a well -articulated strategy, with political, financial and ideological branches, which aims to hijack the democratic and European course of the country and maintain the Republic of Moldova in the sphere of influence of the Russian Federation. ”concluded Rodica Pîrgari.

The reaction of the formation

The gold leader from Chisinau, Boris Volosatîi, reacted, denying the information.

“I reiterate that gold from the Republic of Moldova is an independent political formation, officially registered in the Republic of Moldova. We have no order center from abroad, we do not receive money, orders or indications from outside. Our activity is carried out exclusively on the basis of national legislation, with financing from the contributions and donations of the members, and the decisions are taken by the party's governing bodies. We will continue to do our debt with transparency, honesty and respect for citizens, remaining firmly during the European Republic of Moldova,Boris Volosatîi wrote on Facebook.