NYT investigation: Russian operatives ran training programmes in Bosnia and Serbia targeting Moldova

The investigation is based on interviews with activists who took part in the Russian effort, senior Moldovan law enforcement and security officials, and more than half a dozen European and American intelligence officials. The newspaper also reviewed thousands of documents related to Russia's alleged attempts to interfere in Moldova's elections.

The NYT reported that, in addition to a camp in Serbia, Russian agents ran training programmes in Bosnia and near Moscow designed to turn pro-Russian Moldovans into what the newspaper described as "foot soldiers."

One of the most striking details concerning Bosnia and Herzegovina involves Maxim Rosca, a Moldovan who attended a training camp in the country.

Rosca later testified in a Moldovan court that when he refused to participate in a training session, a Russian trainer punched him in the face and knocked out a tooth, according to the NYT.

In October 2024, three participants in the Bosnia camp were arrested while crossing back into Moldova. Prosecutors said they were carrying drone components, including attachments for dropping grenades.

They were also carrying a manual titled "Russian Cuisine: The ABCs of Homemade Terrorism," according to prosecutors.

The NYT report does not specify the exact location of the camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The newspaper provides further details about a training camp established by Russian operatives at a resort in western Serbia in the summer of 2025, several months before Moldova's parliamentary elections.

Participants, most of them Moldovans, were paid $400 to attend a three- to four-day course, according to senior Moldovan prosecutor Sergiu Zama.

Videos from the camp, which Moldovan prosecutors and the country's intelligence service said were taken from participants' phones, show men wearing camouflage and flak jackets training with assault rifles.

At another camp outside Moscow, more than 100 young Moldovans practised "making and using incendiary items and homemade explosives" and handling drones with special attachments for explosives or arson, according to Moldovan prosecutors.

Two Western intelligence officials told the NYT that the training was overseen by Russia's GRU military intelligence service.

The training programmes were only one element of what the Times described as a much broader campaign involving hacking and disinformation, as well as an alleged vote-buying operation and the recruitment of Orthodox priests to promote pro-Russian narratives.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the allegations of Russian interference, telling the newspaper: "These are all untrue assertions that have no basis whatsoever."