AN INVISIBLE WAR – RUSSIAN HYBRID WARFARE AGAINST THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

Russian hybrid warfare has remained one of the most critical threats in Eastern Europe, especially since the escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict in 2022. This threat extends to the Republic of Moldova, as evidenced by President Maia Sandu’s February 2023 press conference, where she claimed that Moldovan security services had foiled a Russian attempt to carry out a coup against the government in Chișinău. This study aims to demonstrate that the Russian Federation conducted an ongoing hybrid operation against the Republic of Moldova between October 2021 and October 2023. To this end, military, economic, and sociopolitical dimensions are analyzed within the framework developed by Michael D. Reilly, which is based on the Clausewitzian Center of Gravity theory. The findings aim to identify the presence of elements from the Gerasimov model and to provide an outlook on Russian hybrid operations in Moldova.