Russian bots pose as The Insider to spread disinfo about Moldova’s President Maia Sandu, alleging she uses orphans to win votes

The Kremlin-linked Matryoshka bot network, named after the famous Russian nesting doll, is spreading disinformation on Twitter and Bluesky while posing as The Insider. The false narratives in the network’s latest campaign target Moldovan President Maia Sandu and her ruling Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), as revealed by the bot-monitoring project Bot Blocker (@antibot4navalny).

Specifically, the bot network is circulating four identical fake videos alleging that:

• “Relatives of Moldovan prisoners are being induced to vote for the PAS in exchange for a reduced sentence.”
• Orphans are supposedly being “emancipated” en masse to make them legally eligible to vote for PAS. The text in the video reads: “Sandu and the PAS use teenagers in children’s homes to influence the election.” A full video can be viewed below.
  

• Prison inmates are reportedly being pressured with threats of worsening conditions if they do not support the ruling party.
• Thousands of dead children will allegedly be used to cast votes, as they are not listed in adult death registries. The exact wording of the post reads: “Sandu is ready to use dead children as voters. Thousands of dead minors could become voters, as they cannot be found among the lists of deceased adults.”

Screenshots of several of the posts on Bluesky are depicted below.

In June, the same bot network published graphic images predicting the “imminent end” of Sandu, including fake graffiti depicting her execution. Around the same time, the “Foundation to Battle Injustice” — a project started by Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin — released a fabricated report claiming Sandu was involved in trafficking Ukrainian children to pedophiles.

Sandu’s PAS party is preparing for Moldova’s parliamentary elections, scheduled for Sept. 28, 2025. Fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor and his pro-Russian Victory (“Victorie”) bloc were barred from running by Moldova’s Central Election Commission on July 19 due to their violation of party laws and links to Shor.

The Moldovan authorities accuse Shor of organizing a major banking fraud in 2014 that led to the disappearance of around $1 billion from three Moldovan banks. He was sentenced in 2017 to 7.5 years in prison. In 2019, while the case was still under appeal, Shor fled from under house arrest, leaving Moldova for Israel, and then later settling in Moscow. He obtained Russian citizenship in 2024.

In 2023, his sentence was increased to 15 years, though he remains a fugitive. Prosecutors say Shor has created a criminal organization that funneled illicit funds into Moldova’s political system, bribed voters with an estimated $39 million through Russia’s Promsvyazbank, and spread propaganda aimed at undermining the pro-European government led by Maia Sandu.