At the end of September 2025, a video circulated on social networks in which the President of Moldova stated: “Georgia has again turned into a colony of Russia.” We have verified the accuracy of this video..
On September 28, news began to spread in the Russian-language segment of social networks that Moldovan President Maia Sandu, during her speech on the eve of parliamentary elections, allegedly called Georgia a Russian colony. Telegram channels published a fragment of a video message in which, judging by Russian-language subtitles, the politician says: “The European future of our country is under threat. I urge you to vote for yourself and for Moldova, to defend our European path. <…> Unfortunately, history shows that the European path really needs to be fought for. We see how, right before our eyes, Georgia has again turned into a colony of Russia, trampling on European values. The Georgian government has deprived the people of a chance for a prosperous future in the EU. Moldova will not repeat these mistakes, the Kremlin’s pawns will not come to power in our country.” The recording was distributed across major Telegram channels, such as “KB"(213,000 views at the time of publication), "Solovyov" (201,000) "Colonelcassad"(150,000) and Vobla (120,000). Similar publications also appeared in Media (including in foreign), on YouTube, V X, Instagram, Facebook And "VKontakte" October 1 video commented official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova - she accused Sanda of “political lack of culture” and “insulting Georgia and its people” by order of Western “curators.”
On September 28, parliamentary elections were held in Moldova elections, in which the pro-European Action and Solidarity (PAS) party, founded by Maia Sandu, won with just over 50% of the votes. In the election campaign, both the party and the head of state did emphasis on promoting the European course, protecting democracy and confronting attempts interference in elections by Russia.
Although it is alleged that the viral video was part of the election campaign, “Verified” was unable to find this video or the text of the appeal contained in it in the verified blogs Sandu on social networks, on website its administration, on official pages PAS party and other authoritative sources. But on the website of the President of Moldova there is a video message that was published August 29 and visually almost completely coincides with the video from pro-Kremlin Telegram channels: the politician is standing in the same suit, with the same hairstyle, against the same background.
This video is timed to coincide with the official start of the election campaign. In the video, Sandu says: “Unfortunately, our democracy is increasingly under attack. Forces acting from outside want to buy our votes with dirty money. They are spreading lies, trying to intimidate us and destabilize the situation. We see how people who openly work for Russia - not for Moldova - are making efforts to discredit fair elections and undermine our future. The very fate of Moldova is at stake, and we all, dear citizens, need to protect peace and our chance for a better future.” The President of Moldova does not mention Georgia in the video.
Apparently, it was this Sandu election video that was used as the basis for the deepfake. If you look closely at the video from Telegram, you can recognize in it signs of the use of neural networks: desynchronization of speech and lip movements, “shaking” of the skin, unnatural shadows, distortion of teeth or eyes in individual frames. The likelihood of manipulation was assessed as high and some AI detectors, especially those specializing in audio analysis.
The earliest “Verified” publication with a fake video found appeared in the Telegram channel Maia Sandu (@presedinta_maiasandu) September 28 at 16:05 Moscow time. The video was accompanied by a commentary in Romanian: “History shows that we must sincerely fight for the European path. We will not allow ourselves to be led astray, we will protect the free future of our beautiful Moldova.” Although this Telegram channel pretends to be Sandu's official blog, its authenticity is questionable: the channel was created on April 15, 2025, at the time of writing this analysis it had only about 1,200 subscribers. At the same time, the President of Moldova, judging by her official website, does not use the username of this channel in other social networks, and Telegram is not mentioned among them at all. Archived copies of the site indicate that Sandu stopped running her Telegram channel (@maiasandumd) at the end April - beginning May 2024. To her verified blog at that moment were signed almost 11,000 people. Soon unknown user created another channel with the same username, it has not been updated since May last year.
Thus, the video in which Sandu called Georgia a Russian colony is a deepfake generated based on a real election address a month ago.
Cover photo: Telegram
- BBC. The triumph of power, the failure of the opposition, the polarization of the country. Five conclusions from the elections in Moldova
- Forbes. By its own rules: how Moldova made a European choice without European procedures
- Belarusian Association of Journalists. Deepfakes in politics: the experience of the United States and the European Union
- New favorite. How the creators of pro-Kremlin fakes switched from Zelensky to Sandu on the eve of elections in Moldova.
- Is it true that Maia Sandu was diagnosed with schizophrenia?
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