False allegations that France is planning to send its toxic waste to Moldova have spread across social media, EuroVerify debunks.

Paris

French authorities have denied reports that toxic waste from the Stokamine site in Alsace is being sent to Moldova. The false claims emerged during Moldova's parliamentary elections and were spread through a fake news report on social media, which used AI-generated voiceovers and falsified documents.

According to official sources, the waste will remain confined and sealed at the Stokamine site in France, with no plans for transfer to Moldova. The management of Stokamine confirmed that documents cited in the disinformation campaign were falsified and that the real documents make no mention of Moldova. The spread of these claims has been linked to efforts to influence Moldova's elections through Russian-backed disinformation.

France not sending its toxic waste to Moldova

No, France is not sending its toxic waste to Moldova. Moldova's pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity secured a win in the country's parliamentary elections on the 28th of September. The elections were marred with Russian-backed disinformation, such as one false claim alleging that France paid Moldova to dispose of toxic waste from a site known as Stokamine. In reality, French authorities have issued a decree to confine and seal off 42,000 tonnes of waste inside this former mine, located in the French region of Alsace. Despite this, the decision was twisted to claim the waste would be transferred to Moldova, taking the form of a fake news report on social media, which appears to have an AI-generated voiceover. According to MDPA documents, the waste will be sealed in specialised containers and transported to a new storage facility outside the city of Resina, right next to another French-owned company that contributes to environmental pollution in the region. The fake report claims that French President Emmanuel Macron discussed toxic waste solutions during his trip to Chisinau in August. While the report suggests it accessed documents from the 30th of August 2025, which provide for the transfer of the waste to Moldova, Stokamine's management confirmed to EuroVerify that this is fake news. The site's management added that the document featured in the video is a falsified version of a real document from 2016, which makes no mention of Moldova. The confinement of waste at the Stokamine site has been contested, with scientists raising concerns about the toxic waste seeping into the Upper Rhine, which is on the Franco-German border and key for Europe. Building on this, the fake report claims that the French waste will be transferred to a site located close to the Dniester River, which is one of Moldova's main water sources. The report takes an extract from an interview given by a scientist to broadcaster France 24 to make it look like he's talking about Moldova.

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