Kateryna Odarchenko, political strategist and head of the Institute for Democracy and Development “PolitA”, has released a new analysis for the Atlantic Council’s UkraineAlert blog titled “Putin’s Moldova Election Failure Highlights Russia’s Declining Influence.”
In this article, Odarchenko examines how the Moldovan elections became a defining test of Russian influence in Eastern Europe. Despite heavy Kremlin interference and coordinated disinformation campaigns, Moldovan voters chose a pro-European path, reflecting a broader regional shift away from Moscow’s geopolitical orbit.
The analysis outlines how the Kremlin’s traditional tools — propaganda, corruption, and hybrid influence operations — are losing effectiveness. Odarchenko argues that the Moldovan case illustrates a “turning point in post-Soviet politics,” where societies increasingly prioritize sovereignty, transparency, and democratic resilience over Russian patronage.
This piece adds to Odarchenko’s ongoing research at the PolitA Institute, which focuses on democracy, strategic communication, and resilience in states facing hybrid threats.
🔗 Read the full article on the Atlantic Council website:
Putin’s Moldova Election Failure Highlights Russia’s Declining Influence