Putin’s 2026 Goal Is to Break Up EU and NATO From Within, NYT Reports, With Moldova as Key Lever
NYT, citing officials from two countries, reports that Putin set a 2026 goal to dismantle NATO and the European Union from within, with Moldova playing a major role. Western intelligence says that after subjugating Ukraine, the Kremlin’s second priority is gaining control over Moldova.
According to The New York Times, Vladimir Putin used a meeting with Russia’s military leadership at the end of 2025 to set an objective for 2026: to bring down NATO and the European Union from the inside. The newspaper, citing officials from two countries familiar with the meeting, said Moldova is expected to play a major role in achieving that goal.
Western intelligence officials say the Kremlin’s top priority remains bringing Ukraine to heel, with gaining control over Moldova second on the list. Moldova is described as a potential staging ground for further aggression against Ukraine and the West. Putin, the sources say, still hopes to seize territory in southern Ukraine to build a land corridor connecting Russia with Moldova.
The NYT article also details Russia’s efforts to interfere in Moldova’s parliamentary elections in September 2025. These included cyberattacks, disinformation, vote buying and campaigning. Moldovan priests were part of the campaign; they reportedly received Promsvyazbank payment cards in Russia and then encouraged church members to oppose Moldova’s pro-European course.
In the summer of 2025, a training camp in Serbia taught mainly Moldovan citizens how to handle firearms, break through police cordons and set buildings on fire. Participants were paid $400 for three or four days. Western intelligence says trainers were linked to Russia’s GRU military intelligence and the aim was to prepare militants to interfere in the electoral process. Similar camps were held in Bosnia and near Moscow. Moldovan prosecutors say more than 100 young Moldovan citizens were taught to make and use incendiaries and homemade explosives, as well as to operate drones fitted with special devices for explosives or arson.
Moldovan authorities, however, were prepared. In the weeks before the election, police raided hundreds of locations and detained people who had attended the camps. Moldovan cybersecurity specialists, with help from Western allies, repelled hacker attacks. In the election, President Maia Sandu’s pro-European party retained its parliamentary majority.
Moldovan Cyber Security Agency director Mihai Lupashcu acknowledged the situation in cautious terms: “We won the battle. But we have not won the war.”
