On Tuesday, 20 October 2026, Moldova’s Centre for Strategic Communication and Countering Disinformation published an analysis of a “secret drone factory” narrative. The institution says the claim circulated without evidence and that the speed of spread points to coordinated amplification rather than a spontaneous reaction.

According to StratCom, on 16 and 17 October thirteen Telegram accounts posted 21 messages on the topic. Four accounts belong to Sputnik Moldova; the rest are described by the centre as associated with it. The story began as a question, a formula StratCom sees as a way to dodge responsibility.

About three hours later, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described Moldova as a Western anti-Russian testing ground. StratCom ties the timing to seven Russian drone airspace violations it counted between 10 and 16 October. Those incidents are not mixed here with the existence of a factory; the factory remains unconfirmed.

The centre says the falsehood feeds the Russian line about Moldova’s “militarisation” and tries to blur unverified claims with real airspace incidents. Calling those incidents “hysteria” could, StratCom adds, weaken trust in official air-safety warnings.

On Friday, 16 October, Chișinău mayor Ion Ceban publicly asked the government whether a drone factory was being prepared in the city. He offered no evidence. Government spokesman Dumitru Ciorici rejected the “manipulations”: no options for siting military factories are currently being examined; such investment could follow only after a change in the legal framework.

StratCom’s analysis is not a court finding and, in the reporting consulted, does not name individual authors beyond the accounts cited. The conclusion of coordination is the centre’s, based on the short interval, the number of accounts and the speed of spread.

Authorities, according to MOLDPRES, urge people to check information against official sources. None of these statements confirms a drone factory under construction.

Image: Great National Assembly Square, Chișinău, 16 March 2019, Harold, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The square, not a factory and not the StratCom office.

Sources consulted: Falsul despre „fabrica secretă de drone” din R. Moldova, răspândit pe conturi Telegram. Ce arată analiza StratCom — Ziar.md; StratCom: Falsul despre fabrica de drone a fost amplificat coordonat pe Telegram și alimentează narațiunea rusă privind „militarizarea țării” — MOLDPRES; StratCom: Falsul despre fabrica secretă de drone, amplificat de 13 conturi de Telegram — IPN.