Sandu: Europe faces two parallel wars threatening security

Moldovan President Maia Sandu said Europe is facing two parallel wars aimed at undermining the continent’s security and democratic foundations, speaking on January 27 at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Sandu made the remarks during Moldova’s chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers. She said the first conflict was Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which she characterised as a visible and conventional war, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media. 

She said millions of Ukrainians are enduring winter conditions without electricity or heating, not due to weather but because Russia is deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure. According to Sandu, Moscow is using the suffering of the civilian population as a weapon in an effort to break national resistance and make daily life unbearable.

Sandu identified the second conflict as a less visible but equally dangerous hybrid war being conducted within European societies. She said this campaign involves information warfare designed to divide populations and manipulate public opinion. She warned that modern technologies, including algorithms that influence what people read, watch, and believe, are accelerating these efforts despite being poorly understood by the public.

According to Sandu, the two wars are closely interconnected and reinforce one another. She said Russia’s military aggression and hybrid operations share the same objective of weakening, controlling, and dividing Europe.

She urged the Council of Europe to respond decisively, stressing the need to act at the same pace as the evolving threat while defending democratic systems without compromising democratic values. Sandu added that the Council of Europe has a unique and important role to play in countering both conventional and hybrid threats.

By Sabina Mammadli