Highly recommend the book "With Good Intentions” (Благими намерениями) by Ksenia Luchenko to anyone who wants to understand how modern Russian nationalist rhetoric was formed and evolved. Ksenia showed it through the Russian Orthodox Church. Only in Russian now, I hope for an Eng edition one day

please check out these dishes from a Georgian restaurant in Chisinau: Ceasaridze salad, khinkaluli (wtf?), and the real monster - khachapuri stuffed with khinkali

To get a sense of Moldova, look at this: a woman riding her bike along the highway, leading her cow on a rope. Watermelons in Moldova are truly beyond all expectations 🍉🍉🍉

Created parish channels are ramping up activity before Sunday’s election, fueled by the TG-channel Sare și Lumină.

Sare şi Lumiña printed papers are also shared in churches with QR-codes to TG and TikTok

The same RU operatives are under Sare şi Lumiña, we found 8/8

in exchange for the money they were expected to create social media channels for their parishes in Moldova to warn their flocks about the dangers of the pro-Western government's pursuit of closer European integration, said Bicu 7/8

Some priests received debit cards issued by a RU sanctioned state bank Promsvyazbank which were handed to them in a monastery by non-church people. And received several hundred dollars on them, more than double the country’s average monthly income (my photo from Balti hospital church) 6/8

They pushed Moldovan priests during the trips to Russia to open the TG-channels of their parishes. The Russians are involved in operating and supplying content for the social media campaign at these channels during the year before the parliamentary elections, like this 5/8

But ahead of these trips were several political operatives and social media specialists affiliated with the ruling United Russia party and Putin-backed People's Front. We found their names. 4/8

Hundreds of Moldovan priests accepted the all-expenses-paid trips to Moscow between June and October 2024, 15 clerics, including four who attended the pilgrimages, told us. And an analysis of photos and videos of the visits posted online confirmed 3/8

The Church is the most trusted country's institution, authorities claimed. The Orthodox church, followed by the bulk of Moldova’s 2.4 million population, is subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate 2/8

he travelled to DPR (got in touch with pro-Russian foreign fighters here) and ended up in Donetsk with a bag over his head, questioned by FSB officers who used both threats and inducements to get him to agree to work for them. one example of conversation with FSB handler:

Laken Pavan was deeply affected by his parents' divorce in his early childhood, idolized his father, who served in Afghanistan and later worked as a combat engineer, and was obsessed with the Canadian military

There were so many people working at the site that long lines formed at the gates to get through security checks

We uncovered the factory’s blueprint, satellite imagery, and the planned construction budget.
w/ @christianlowe.bsky.social @mashatsvetkova.bsky.social @zverevlive.bsky.social Ryan McNeill @reuters.com