Talk:Moldova and the Russo-Ukrainian War

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Moldova

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Requested move 30 December 2024

It has been proposed in this section that Moldova and the Russo-Ukrainian War be renamed and moved to Russian hybrid warfare against Moldova.

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Moldova and the Russo-Ukrainian War → Russian hybrid warfare against Moldova – This article is a compilation of actions that Russia has done to undermine and destabilize Moldova in the last years. They have happened during the Russo-Ukrainian War, but are part of a single coordinated effort and plan. We can rename the article so it covers this more precise and encyclopedic topic. We have a lot of sources describing this hybrid warfare that Russia is doing against Moldova.

Here are some big names: the Institute for the Study of War ("The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine is, in fact, supporting Russian hybrid warfare efforts in former Soviet states, particularly Moldova and Georgia"), the European Parliament ("vehemently condemns Russia's escalating malicious activities, interference and hybrid operations ahead of Moldovans going to the polls"), Politico citing Moldova's chief of police ("Moldova is facing a phenomenon of voter bribery, combined with hybrid warfare and disinformation, the likes of which our country has never seen before,"), Euronews ("the Kremlin has enacted elements of its hybrid war playbook in both states [Ukraine and Moldova]"), NATO itself ("In Moldova, Russia’s hybrid warfare has been aimed at toppling the country’s pro-EU government").

This hybrid warfare scheme would have involved many actions and events that are either already in the article or would have been had the article been written later. This article, currently with a vague and open scope, is the best recipient for this topic. Here are sources mentioning these actions as hybrid warfare: Russian-paid protests in Moldova ([1]: "Russia has dedicated considerable resources to its hybrid war. [...] For instance, protestors are routinely paid to participate in anti-government protests.", page 6; [2]: "It later emerged that protesters had been paid by Kremlin proxies to attend." in an article about Russian hybrid warfare in Moldova), continuous airspace violations and falling of drones and missiles ([3]: "The overall internal security situation remains stable, but fragile due to regular incidents such as bomb hoaxes and missiles or missile debris falling on Moldovan territory. in a section regarding hybrid warfare, page 258), Transnistria's role in this effort ([4]: "Chisinau has been the victim of a complex hybrid action carried out by the Kremlin on multiple levels. In this respect, the Transnistria region has long been used by Russia as a bargaining chip in its efforts to influence Republic of Moldova."), rigging of elections and vote-buying ([5]: "Indeed, Moldova's election season was marred by massive Russian interference in both campaigns. This meddling included cyberattacks, planned espionage at diaspora polling stations, and the outright buying of votes."; [6]: "Recent votes in the former Soviet states of Georgia and Moldova have been dogged by interference from Russian-backed elements.", "There is a suggestion that these efforts are part of Russia’s multifaceted hybrid warfare."), an alleged coup in February 2023 ([7]: "The timely leak of classified information about Russia's attempts to organize a coup in Chisinau allowed the government to react quickly", page 49, see source's title) and energy blackmail and the energy crisis of 2022 and 2023 (same source and page as before: "Thanks to substantial financial aid from the EU, Moldova was able to survive Russia’s energy blackmail in 2022 and even break Gazprom's monopoly.").

This source summarizes everything nicely: Moldova's Response to Hybrid Attacks: A Learning-by-doing Strategy, page 2, "In addition to the potential risks coming from Transnistria, Moldova has witnessed a series of new challenges over the past year and a half, ranging from false bomb alerts, cyber-attacks, and explosions in Transnistria to energy blackmail, paid protests, and Kremlin proxies operating in the autonomous region of Gagauzia. This is all alongside continuous disinformation campaigns.".

Note that I've only looked at English-language sources, and several of these sources are written by Moldovans themselves. Here are some random academic sources that I didn't use above [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]. I think no doubt remains that sources verify that Russia is waging hybrid warfare against Moldova. Do you agree that this article should cover this topic? Super Ψ Dro 12:47, 30 December 2024 (UTC) — Relisting. ~/Bunnypranav:<ping> 14:24, 6 January 2025 (UTC) — Relisting. Safari Scribe^{Edits! Talk!} 12:22, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Relisting comment: This is quite long and may be difficult to get participants, please cut and make your rationale simple and understandable. Safari Scribe^{Edits! Talk!} 12:22, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose. "Hybrid warfare" lacks a coherent definition, it is too vague, as stated in the article Hybrid warfare "There is no universally-accepted definition of hybrid warfare; with a debate over its utility and whether it simply refers to irregular methods to counter a conventionally superior force. The vagueness of the term means that it is often used as a catch-all term for all non-linear threats." The proposed title fails in regard to naturalness and precision, WP:CRITERIA. It is unlikely someone looking for the article would immediately think of "Russian hybrid warfare".

However, I am not categorically opposed to a name change, something like Effects of the Russo-Ukrainian War on Moldova, for example. TurboSuperA+ (talk) 15:35, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

TurboSuperA+, I don't agree with your rationale. I've provided several examples of this term being employed in reliable sources. My intention was to turn this article into a catch-all for all measures Russia has taken to destabilise Moldova anyhow in the last years. I find "hybrid warfare" the ideal term for this. Hybrid warfare mentions in the lead several measures I mentioned above: disinformation, electoral interference, cyberattacks. The term attains wide usage, 25,200 results in Google Scholar [15]; "hybrid warfare" moldova attains 2,950, I see no evidence that readers could look for this topic for another term, which is employed as I showed above by the European Parliament and NATO. It was used some days ago by the EU's foreign affairs commissioner [16], and Moldovan President Maia Sandu also used it [17] (in Romanian, translate the headline).

I am open to other suggestions but not similar to the current title like your proposal. The current title makes the article aimless, it simply establishes a connection between a country and a war, it does not have a defined topic. Who would look for this article? I don't think readers know what to expect when they read this title. I don't see a problem with "hybrid warfare", but we could use something like "Russian destabilization measures against Moldova". The topic itself is a vague combination of different political events, though this combination is covered in reliable sources (so it's not my own WP:OR). Super Ψ Dro 23:59, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"Russian destabilization measures against Moldova"

But the article's scope includes Moldova's response to the war. The first two paragraphs of the article as follows:

"Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moldova accepted Ukrainian refugees,[1] opened a bank account for donations,[2] and unofficially imposed sanctions on Russia.[3]They also, Moldova declared a 60-day state of emergency and fully closed its airspace for a week.[4][5]"

I don't think Moldova accepting refugees, opening bank accounts and imposing sanctions on Russia are Russian destabilisation measures, and neither are Moldova declaring a 60-day state of emergency and closing its airspace for a week.

The article seems to be about both Moldova's response to the war and Russian destabilisation efforts. That is why an article title like "Moldova's response to the Russo-Ukrainian War" or "Russia's destabilisation efforts against Moldova" would not be descriptive of the article's contents. The article could be split up into two new articles with those two titles.

Out of the five sections in the article, only one is about the Russian destabilisation efforts, that's why I don't think it is appropriate to call the whole article that also covers the effects of the war on Moldova and Moldova's response to the war.

Even though it's not perfect, the current title seems to encompass all of the topics that the article contains. TurboSuperA+ (talk) 04:48, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I also aimed to change the article's scope with my proposal, I proposed changing the scope from something open, vague and doubtfully encyclopedic to a precise academic topic. If editors do not agree, I guess I will write a separate article sometime in the future and let people figure this one out.

By the way, thanks for your work on the energy blackmail article. Super Ψ Dro 11:52, 17 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

As I said, I'm not opposed to a name change, it'd just have to be descriptive of the whole article. You could always write a separate "Russia's Hybrid Warfare" article, or something like that, as I think there's enough WP:RS that mention it.

"By the way, thanks for your work on the energy blackmail article."

No problem. TurboSuperA+ (talk) 13:04, 17 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This is a reasonable suggestion, but it would be a page on a different subject. If someone really wants to develop it, I would recommend creation a separate page, specifically about the "Hybrid warfare". My very best wishes (talk) 03:35, 21 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]