All language subtitles for Global.Eye.S2025E03.1080p.iP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-HiNGS_track3_[eng]

Welcome to Global Eye
from the BBC World Service

and welcome to Alaska -
America's last frontier -

just 55 miles from Russia.

This vast, untapped wilderness

is more than seven times
the size of the UK.

But rising temperatures
mean Alaska's ecosystems,

cultural heritage and way of life
are under pressure.

TRAIN HORN HONKS

I'm Ana Holligan

and I'll be your guide for this
week's showcase

of the best of the BBC's
global journalism

from the World Service.

Later on, I'll be looking at why
what happens here

matters to the rest of the world.

And we'll be in Pakistan following
a unique group of women,

the last of their kind,

on a very special journey.

But first, we're taking you to
Moldova in Eastern Europe,

where voters are due to go to
the polls in a general election

this weekend in a contest that's on
a knife edge.

The BBC Eye Investigations team
has gone undercover

to expose a pro-Russian
group using disinformation

to influence the election result.

Moldovan state intelligence accuses
Russia of spending record sums

in an attempt to fix the election
outcome on Sunday, September 28th.

BBC Eye goes undercover

to expose how fake news
is shaping Moldova's future.

As the pro-European PAS party
goes head-to-head

with a coalition of
pro-Russian, anti-EU parties,

is Russia now trying
to rig Moldova's elections?

Moldova, a country of 2.4 million
on the edge of Europe,

narrowly voted yes to joining
the EU last year

in a referendum
marred by extensive allegations

of Russian interference.

Moldovan citizens were
reportedly paid

in return for
protesting against joining the EU.

The police say these
illegal payments

were organised by Moldovan oligarch
Ilan Shor,

now living in exile in Moscow.

With crunch elections approaching,
Shor has taken the gloves off,

openly offering to pay for protests
against the government.

The authorities have called Shor's
offer of payment

"blatant election interference."

Moldova goes to the polls
this Sunday, 28th of September,

in a crucial election to choose
a new parliament.

Moldova's most senior
police officer

believes that record funding

is being smuggled
in to swing this election.

Hi, Ana.

Throughout the campaign,

BBC Eye reporter Ana
has been undercover

to infiltrate an apparent new phase
in the operation -

a fake news network.

Four months before the elections,
we obtain instructions

to join a private, invitation-only
channel on Telegram,

the secure messaging app
used by the network

to organise its activists.

Ana poses as a would-be trainee.

After passing the vetting,
she gains access to the channel.

It's called Electoral Hackathon.

Inside are 35 recruits

who are invited
to attend online lectures

on how to be paid to influence
elections

while posing
as ordinary members of the public.

On completing the course,

Ana receives a direct
Telegram message

from one of the organisers,

a woman called Alina Juc.

Online searches reveal

she comes from Moldova's
breakaway pro-Russian republic -

Transnistria.

Instagram posts also
show regular trips to Russia.

And then we discover
that Alina appears on

the website of Eurasia.

This is the oligarch
Ilan Shor's banned campaign group,

and she is described as a leader.

She has a job for Ana.

Conduct opinion polls about
the election on the street.

In return,
Ana will be paid 600 Moldovan lei

or £25 for each poll completed.

Alina had arranged a meeting at
an office in the capital city,

Chisinau.

Proceedings are led by a
Russian voice on speakerphone.

Moldova Mare is a pro-Russian
political party.

The party's policies are from a
familiar playbook,

promising to make Moldova
great again

using an anti-Western platform.

They will be told to say they are
from pollsters Free Democracy,

but their questions will attack
the government

and promote Moldova Mare
and their candidate,

Victoria Furtuna,
known for her close links to Russia.

A former anti-corruption
prosecutor,

Furtuna resigned
while accused of leaking data

from a criminal investigation.

The case never went to trial

and 18 months later,

Furtuna is now running as an
MP for Moldova Mare.

We asked Furtuna's deputy

if they too had links to fugitive
oligarch Ilan Shor.

A week after the briefing,

Alina invites Ana to take part
in her first polling event.

Alina briefs them over lunch.

The recruits have been given
a series of questions to ask

while polling members of the public.

They are told to secretly
record those who talk to them.

Alina hands the group
a questionnaire

to be answered by members
of the public.

It says they are
from the European Centre

For The Study Of Public Opinion,

"Free Democracy."

An entity that does not appear to
exist

and is not registered with
Moldova's Electoral Commission...

..making their polling illegal.

The team are asked
to read out questions

that contain known falsehoods
about the current government.

After the polling,

Ana is added to another private
Telegram channel

called The Brigade,

along with six other
newly-appointed group leaders

overseen by Alina Juk.

Then Alina calls with another job
offer.

Mm-hm.

Ana will be paid £130 a month

to create social media profiles
and put out daily posts.

And then Milena reveals a vital
piece of information.

Milena confirms Ana will receive
a payment from TSB Bank in Moscow,

owned by the Russian state

under international sanctions
and linked to Ilan Shor.

After this, Ana is instructed to
create a series

of fake Facebook and TikTok profiles

and given daily
instructions on posting,

talking down the current government

or supporting Shor's paid protests.

Many of the requests
contain outright lies.

Just as the election
campaign was about to begin,

the network we've infiltrated
suffers a major setback -

Moldova's Electoral Commission
blocks four parties from running.

For Alina's influencer brigade,

this means their candidate,
Victoria Furtuna,

is suspended from running in the
election.

Mm-hm.

Mm-hm.

Alina and her backers have pivoted,

placing their support behind a new
group of Socialist MPs

formed only days earlier.

Alina and her canvassers

are now polling
for the New Patriotic Bloc.

They poll the public for several
hours.

Ana still hasn't been paid by
the network.

She meets
up with Alina to settle accounts.

Alina pays her salary
of £100 plus expenses

for taking part
in four polls to date.

The BBC later donated the
cash to charity.

Ana presses Alina on the purpose
of their canvassing.

ANA GIGGLES

Alina reveals her group
is just one brigade

in a much larger digital army,

all with the same marching orders.

The following evening, they meet
again at the bus stop,

where Alina receives an unexpected
call.

Alina seems overwhelmed by the task
in hand

and urgently needs more cash.

Ana has caught Alina in the act,

requesting money from Russia to pay
for her campaigning in Moldova.

Russian officials continue
to insist

their government is not interfering
in Moldova's elections.

Ana arranges a final meeting
with Alina

to ask what is the fundamental
purpose

of the polling she's been doing?

Alina suggests that if the
election doesn't go their way,

the illegal and loaded polling
they've been doing

could be used to claim
that the vote was rigged.

Following an appeal and just 18
days before the election,

Victoria Furtuna and her Moldova
Mare party are allowed to stand.

For voters, the bitter political
wrangling is unsettling.

But there is no doubt the fake
news is being seen.

We identified 90 TikTok accounts
that appeared

to be part
of the same digital brigade as Ana.

They posted the same messages
on the same days

we were instructed to.

Moldova's population
is only 2.4 million,

but these accounts alone receive
more than 23 million views

and over 860,000 likes.

The results will be
heavily disputed,

but whoever wins next
Sunday's election,

the damage from a tidal wave
of disinformation

will be felt for years to come.

And you can see the full
investigation on iPlayer now.

Alaska feels
like nowhere else I've ever been.

Peaceful, endless sweeping mountain
ranges.

The gateway to Asia.

Alaska's governor calls it the most
strategic place on Earth.

It's actually closer to Tokyo than
its fellow US state of Hawaii.

Alaska was part of Russia
until it was sold to the US in 1867,

and in August,
the capital city, Anchorage,

played host to a high
stakes meeting between

the Russian leader
Vladimir Putin

and US President Donald Trump
over the future of Ukraine.

For many, Alaska is considered
an untapped asset.

On his first day in office,
Donald Trump vowed to unlock

this state's bounty
of natural wealth.

His administration have pushed
for drilling and mining

on public lands.

Drill, baby, drill.

We have something that no other
manufacturing nation will ever have.

The largest amount of oil
and gas of any country on Earth.

And we are going to use it.

Alaska's not for sale!

Across Alaska, these proposals are
being hotly debated.

Proponents believe it would ensure
US energy security into the future,

while critics say this
would jeopardise local communities,

livelihoods and Alaska's
unique climate.

A third of this state
lies within the Arctic Circle.

Yet this summer,
for the first time ever,

Alaska issued an official
heat advisory

and wildfires
are becoming increasingly common.

There's another challenge too.

The melting ice is destabilising
the land,

weakening buildings, buckling roads
and threatening pipelines.

Indigenous communities
are especially vulnerable.

Some have been displaced because the
land is no longer inhabitable,

and traditional fishing
and hunting practices

have also been disrupted
because the melting ice

affects animal migration routes
and fish populations,

meaning there are
existential challenges

to these traditional ways of life.

But how do events here in Alaska
affect the rest of us?

According to
a 2023 climate assessment

carried out
for the US federal government,

Alaska is warming faster than
the global average,

which means the impacts are felt
here earlier and more intensely.

But it also means the people
are highly motivated

to try to find solutions
and are looking for answers

that could help the rest
of the world.

You can hear my full documentary
about the fight

against climate change,

Alaska's Wild Solutions,

next month on
People Fixing The World.

Listen on BBC Sounds.

And here's some other great
journalism from the World Service

that you can catch this week.

For decades, there has been conflict
between the Indian security forces

and armed Maoist rebels
in the Bastar region.

BBC News India has spoken
exclusively to the first woman

to rise to the rank of Maoist
military commander,

to find out what drove her to a path
of violence and extreme politics,

and then prompted her
to leave again.

Watch on YouTube.

And on this week's edition
of Americast,

the team explore the killing of
Charlie Kirk,

including what made him
so successful

and how dangerous a moment
this could be for the country.

Listen on BBC Sounds
or wherever you get your podcasts.

For centuries, the Wakhi
shepherdesses have been the economic

backbone of their remote community.

The work of these women
who trek across high altitudes,

often barefoot
and accompanied by their children,

to graze their flocks,
is a symbol of resilience.

But their way of life is dying out.

Farhat Jawad, from the
BBC's Urdu Service,

joined the Wakhi shepherdesses on
one of their final epic journeys.

Deep in the Karakoram
mountains of northern Pakistan,

a centuries-old tradition
is about to unravel.

Every summer, the Wakhi
shepherdesses travel

for several days from their home in
the Shimshal Valley to Pamir.

The last of their kind,
they have endured the elements...

..and secured a future
for their children.

This is their life's work.

They migrate to keep the herd fed
and healthy.

A timeless way of life
soon to be forgotten.

Annar is the oldest
and the leader of the group.

At 88, this will be her last trip.

It's a tough three-day trek
up to Pamir at 16,000ft,

almost 5,000m above sea level.

Shimshal Valley remained
disconnected from the rest

of the world until the early 2000s.

The Wakhi people relied solely on
shepherding and agriculture.

In the summer,
men farming in Shimshal

and women shepherding in Pamir.

Averaging eight hours a day,
they are undeterred.

For centuries, dozens of women,
young and old,

would spend their summers here.

Today, there are only seven
shepherdesses left

in their community.

Living in the wilderness
comes at a cost

in this constant balance
between life and death.

Living in such a harsh
environment with no access

to health care meant children from
the Wakhi community

had a high mortality rate.

On that trip alone,
12 children died.

Pamir in the summer.

Looking after the herd is just one
part of the job.

Nothing was ever thrown away.

Shepherding alongside
their dairy products

turned out to be a hugely
successful business.

Their shepherding marked
a turning point for their community.

Together, they funded
the only road out of the valley.

This linked the villagers to
the Karakoram Highway,

which spans Pakistan and China.

What would take days to cross
was reduced to hours.

In less than a generation,
Shimshal was transformed.

Bano's son Wazir leads
a very different life.

Fazila is also part
of this new generation.

Unlike her mother and grandmother,
she was given a choice.

The valley's connection to the world

brought with it new ideas
and opportunities.

The end is close.

The hardest trek is behind them.

Shimshal Pass marks the arrival
to the pastures.

Pamir is in sight.

It's time to celebrate.

THEY SING

The new generation is venturing into
new ways of life.

Without women like
Anar, Bano and Afroz,

this new chapter in the lives
of the Wakhi people

wouldn't have been possible.

That's all from Alaska. Global Eye
will be back next week.

Thanks for watching.