Russian propagandists continue to create fake videos, using the logos of foreign media and organizations to add validity to their narratives. This time, our team debunked a fake video with the logo of Euronews TV channel, which claimed that Moldova is the biggest hub of the black market weapons.
What happened?
On June 27, pro-Russian Telegram channels “Republic Odessa,” “V the hand of Kremlin,” “INFOsream,” and “Military columnist” shared the posts that Euronews released a story about Moldova as a hub for black market weapons.
“Moldova became the biggest hub of the black market weapons because of the high level of corruption. Moldova’s corruption level during Maia Sandu’s presidency is a threat to the entire Europe. Weapons from Ukraine flow to Europe through Moldova,” said the pro-Russian Telegram channels.
Analysis
First, we analyzed the fake video shared by pro-Russian channels. They used simple graphic elements and publicly available photos to create the story. The video only contains subtitles and background music without any actual footage or voiceover.
The video tells the story about traders who use Moldova as a buffer zone for illegal weapon export from Ukraine to share it in Europe and further.
The authors of the fake story refer to what they say is Clara Staicu’s comment — she is the Secretary of State for European Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania:
“Moldova became an ideal transit point for arms traffickers due to its small size and extremely closed community where corruption and horizontal connections are widespread. This makes it easier to negotiate and bribe representatives of security forces, who do not only turn a blind eye to illegal arms trafficking but actually condone it,” Staicu supposedly said to Euronews.
We checked the information about Staicu on X social media and in Romanian and foreign media outlets. We didn’t find any public statements or comments about the “black market arms in Moldova and weapon export from Ukraine.”
Staicu actively participated in forming the European policy in Romania and has repeatedly publicly expressed support for Moldova and Ukraine (1, 2) regarding their eurointegration processes.
Next, we analyzed the resources of the Euronews TV channel — its official website and accounts on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube social media. None of the platforms have videos with relevant context shared by pro-Russian channels.
Instead, we found a refutation (archive) regarding the fake video on the Euronews website dated May 27, 2025.
“Our graphics and format were copied and used without our consent, and our teams are working to ensure the video is removed from all social platforms. It is unclear where any of the claims in the video supposedly come from, and there appears to be no evidence for any of them,” said Euronews.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania responded to fact-checkers saying that they “categorically rejects the content” of the fake video, including the claims of Staicu:
“The MFA strongly condemns the illegal use of the visual identity of Romanian officials in order to manipulate public opinion and undermine confidence in the democratic and European course of the Republic of Moldova,” they said.
StopFals Moldovan fact-checkers documented the disinformation narrative about Moldova turning into an illegal weapon supply hub in 2023.
Back then, Mykhail Akhremtsev, a pro-Russian activist, said that Ukraine wanted to make Moldova a weapon supply hub. He referred to the signing of a cooperation agreement between Ukrainian Railways and the Railways of Moldova.
“Ukraine called for a war and promised to use the Moldovan railways for its military purposes,” said Akhremtsev on his Facebook account on June 1, 2023.
A memorandum of cooperation was signed on May 31, 2023. The Ukrainian side has agreed to help reconstruct a 400 km railway section in Moldova, mostly with European funds. The project itself was intended to help ensure food security.
Instead, Akhremtsev claimed that “Moldova is entering an armed conflict on the side of a pro-fascist state (Ukraine — ed.).”
So, the video with the Euronews logo shared by pro-Russian Telegram channels is fake. They used the channel’s graphics and the video format to create the video. Euronews officially denied their relation to the shared fake content and said that the statement in the video is baseless.
Conclusion: Fake
Authors: Ilona Zholondiievska, Olha Yakovleva
Translation to English: Elza Diachenko
Subscribe to news from Kharkiv, Ukraine
Most important stories from the frontline region
