A scandal erupted around Anastasiia Prykhodko's canceled concerts in Moldova: how Russia is involved

A scandal involving Ukrainian singer Anastasiia Prykhodko has broken out in Moldova. Against the backdrop of the presidential elections in the country, which has chosen the path of integration into the European Union, posters with the Ukrainian singer began to appear on the streets.

The announcements of Prykhodko's upcoming concert read "NU EC Yes" in blue and yellow, where "NU" means "No" in Romanian and "EC" is an abbreviation of the European Union in Russian. As it turned out later, the posters were part of a Russian disinformation campaign to influence the elections and the referendum on Moldova's EU membership. The New York Times reports.

According to the head of the Moldovan national police, Viorel Cernauteanu, the posters had nothing to do with the Ukrainian singer but were part of a "large psychological operation" by Russia. He also said that he believed this operation was the work of Ilan Shor, a fugitive Moldovan oligarch hiding in Moscow, citing evidence that the people who ordered the posters were connected to the traitor.

After the posters were taken down as illegal campaigning, Prykhodko's concert did not take place. According to a DFRLab investigation, pro-Russian Telegram channels spread information that the Moldovan authorities had canceled the star's performance because of her position. Earlier, the singer posted a video on the TikTok platform, where she expressed her dissatisfaction with the European Union, saying that EU countries have high tariffs, bureaucracy, and unemployment awaits Ukrainians.

On October 18, Meta announced that it had deleted seven accounts, one group, and 23 Facebook pages, as well as another 20 Instagram accounts that the company associated with suspicious activity. In particular, the block included a dozen fictitious Russian-language media outlets. Among the blocked Facebook pages was one that was used to advertise a concert in Chisinau by Anastasiia Prykhodko and also contained the message "NU EC Yes."

The singer's spokesman, Kirill Savchenko, said that a concert in Chisinau was planned, but now it has been canceled. He refused to comment further. Currently, the poster about the performance in Moldova has been removed from the artist's official website.

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