Moldova is facing growing hybrid threats, аs the Russian Federation continues to deploy coordinated disinformation, cyber operations, political interference, energy coercion and the manipulation of unresolved territorial conflicts. All these actions are meant to destabilise the state, in addition to complicating its Euro-Atlantic integration (Wesslau, 2024; Maitland et al., 2025; Dhojnacki, 2025). NATO and the EU have responded with corresponding yet diverse strategies: with NATO concentrating on defence capacity-building and hybrid resilience, and the EU stressing on governance reforms and institutional strengthening (NATO, 2024a; European Council, 2025). This piece examines Russia’s hybrid toolkit, all the while evaluating the effectiveness of NATO and the EU’s responses and offering policy recommendations for strengthening Moldova’s security within the broader Black Sea strategy.
About the author:
Jana Kiyaschenko-Podhostnik worked at Finabel.