Kremlin bot network Matryoshka spreads first fake video made with Luma AI mocking Moldova’s President Maia Sandu

The video features a deepfake of Sandu that portrays the Moldovan president as inconsistent and ineffective. It mocks Moldova’s drawn-out path toward EU accession and alludes to a dispute with Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom over gas supplies to the breakaway Transnistrian Moldovan Republic last year. The video also references fugitive pro-Kremlin oligarch Ilan Shor, whose political bloc Victorie (Victory) was barred from participating in Moldova’s Sept. 28 parliamentary elections. Narration is voiced in Russian.

Sandu has been a popular target for Matryoshka’s bot accounts, which launched intensified attacks on her back in April. That wave accused Sandu of corruption, suppressing dissent, and manipulating elections. At the same time, the “Foundation for the Fight Against Repression,” established by the late Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin, released a fabricated “investigation” alleging that Sandu was profiting from trafficking Ukrainian children to pedophiles.

The bots also attempted to pit European Commission Vice President Kaja Kallas against Sandu by spreading false claims that Sandu was eyeing Kallas’s position. Analysts say the likely reason behind this surge of disinformation is the upcoming Moldovan parliamentary elections, scheduled for Sept. 28.