Bausman’s Bloggers: How Far-Right Influencers Were Deployed in Moldova’s Elections
Sharing a new report written in collaboration with Watchdog.md
Today I’m proud to share a new report that I authored in collaboration with the think tank “Watchdog.” The report is titled “Externally Facing Influence Campaigns” and is an analysis of cross-border influence operations targeting Western policy makers (think tanks, politicians, etc). Specifically, I look at influence campaigns around the 2024 and 2025 elections.
This report draws on articles and reports by the local press, think tanks, original reporting and past investigations by Moldova Matters. It documents Kremlin “grasstops1” influence operations targeting elite networks in the United States and Europe. Through a series of case studies I look at how western institutions, legal structures and companies are weaponized against the very democracies that allow them to exist.
This is the first report of its kind to specifically focus on this type of campaign. Lots of (excellent) work has been done on how social media has been weaponized to spread disinformation to voters in the Moldovan election cycle. Far less attention has been paid to the networks and organizations being used to target western politicians in order to convince them that Moldova cannot and should not be allowed into the EU.
You can read the full report online right now at this link:
In this article, I’m sharing a section of the report that I want to particularly highlight for Moldova Matters’s readers. It’s an original investigation into a pre-election “delegation” of American, Canadian and British far-right influencers that I’m calling “Bausman’s Bloggers” - named after the man who helped organize this event, Charles Bausman.
Mr. Bausman has quite a history and has been called “anti-semetic” and a “fascist” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and a “Russian Propagandist” by the New York Times. Bausman has called himself a “political refugee” in Russia, where he spent some years apparently avoiding charges related to his participation in the January 6th insurrection at the US capital2.
Read on for the story of how Mr. Bausman wound up in Moldova right before the September elections, and how members of his delegation are still spreading disinformation about Moldova in publications as recently as December.
Quick Definition:
FIMI = Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference
Case 3: Bausman’s Bloggers
Prior to the 2025 parliamentary elections the Moldovan press reported on an operation dubbed “Matushka” whereby the Shor network recruited Orthodox Clergy to influence devote voters to vote against parties supporting EU integration. One element of this campaign was a physical newspaper and digital social media presence called “Salt and Light.” On October 1st, after the election, the Digital Forensics Lab (DFL) wrote an article analyzing one aspect of this campaign involving foreign influencers. They wrote:
To reinforce the narrative that the Moldovan Orthodox Church is “under siege” by the pro-European government, Salt and Light invited a group of conservative bloggers from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada to Moldova. The visit was heavily promoted on their Telegram channel and amplified by Moldova24 (MD24), a television outlet previously identified by DFRLab as part of the Ilan Shor network and reliant on RT’s digital infrastructure.
This strategy aims to lend legitimacy to pro-Kremlin talking points by showcasing endorsements from foreign voices, framing the situation in Moldova as part of a broader geopolitical struggle. One post claimed: “The church schism in Moldova is now being discussed not only inside the country… Journalists and bloggers from the US, UK, and Canada, after seeing the situation with their own eyes, admit: events are unfolding according to an alarming Ukrainian scenario.” The campaign went further by attempting to appeal directly to US Vice President JD Vance to “intervene and help defend the traditional Church.”
The visit of the “bloggers” was first reported by context.ro on September 18th - immediately prior to the elections. Their report is primarily based on a Telegram post from the Salt & Light channel. Both reports focused on how the visit of this group was designed to lend credibility to Kremlin talking points in the Moldovan elections. That is true, but there was also a foreign targeted FIMI campaign that has not previously been reported. The following is original work produced for this report.
The Journalists & Bloggers
Here is a listing of the people who Salt and Light claim joined this trip:
Charles Bausman - An American with a long history of working as a Russian propagandist. He publishes content called “Fascist” and “antisemitic” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Bausman entered the US Capital on January 6th and fled to Russia soon after according to the New York Times. He was the organizer of this delegation alongside the Russian Orthodox Church.
Conrad Franz - An American who hosts the “World War Now” podcast and Substack newsletter (24,000+ subscribers). Its tagline is “Covering the Third World War and political and religious realignment from the perspective of Christian prophecy and rising multipolarity.” Franz is a convert to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR).
Buck Johnson - American from Texas, host of the Counterflow podcast. Also a convert to ROCOR, Johnson’s podcast combines Orthodox Christianity, masculinity and Libertarianism.
James Delingpole - A British far-right commentator and podcaster, former editor of Breitbart UK, known for conspiracy-driven culture-war content, climate change denial, and repeated alignment with pro-Kremlin narratives and Russian state-adjacent media themes.
John-Henry Westen - Canadian co-founder and editor-in-chief of LifeSiteNews. The site takes an ultra-traditionalist Roman Catholic approach to the news. The site is known for publishing mis- and dis-information and was permanently removed from Youtube in 2021 for promoting MAGA “stop the steal” content. Westen is close to the MAGA movement and was pictured visiting Maralago in March 2025.
Thomas Herman Ertl Jr. - Unknown. I have been unable to find any writer operating under this name.
Salt and Light used confusing variations of many of the “journalists and bloggers” names. They also made a mistake, as Buck Johnson did not actually come to Moldova. On his podcast he later spoke about being invited on the trip by Charles Bausman but dropping out at the last minute for unclear personal reasons.
In an interview with orthochristian.com, Conrad Franz is introduced as follows:
“Conrad was invited to Russia by the Moscow Patriarch Department for the Church’s Society and Mass Media Relations, to get firsthand experience of our Church life—in Moscow, Moldova, and the Donbas.”
I reached out to all the trip participants (except Thomas Herman Ertl Jr.) for comment about who funded the trip and what it entailed. None responded. In subsequent articles and podcasts none directly state who paid for the trip, but multiple participants explain that it was organized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
FIMI Produced
In a future report I will be looking at the role of faith based groups in Kremlin FIMI operations around the Moldovan elections. In that report, we will look at key themes, messaging and the roles played by various individuals, witting or unwitting, in Kremlin information operations. For now, here is a listing of the content produced by these individuals referencing Moldova and their trip after the fact. All of this material is in English and most came out well after the Moldovan election. This implies that the blogger delegation had a dual purpose: 1) to support the Romanian and Russian language FIMI operations reported by DFL above, and 2) to produce longer term content for highly specific audiences in the English speaking world.
LifeSiteNews, “EU’s Shocking Push for LGBT in Europe’s Most Conservative Christian Country – Moldova,” article by Charles Bausman (Sept. 30, 2025)
Counterflow Podcast Episode 383, “A Report on Russia, Moldova, and the Church, with Conrad Franz,” Host Buck Johnson interviews Conrad Franz (Oct. 8, 2025)
World War Now Podcast, “BREAKING: MOLDOVA PERSECUTING ORTHODOXY! Church Targeted by State! ON THE GROUND REPORT, ” Hosted by Conrad Franz and co-host Dmitriy Kalyagin (Sept 20, 2025)
The Spectator, “Believe it or not, Russia is great,” James Delingpole (Sept. 25, 2025). Reprinted in part in The Irish Sun (Sept. 28, 2025)
Delingpod, “Conrad Franz,” podcast host James Delingpole interviews Conrad Franz, (October 14, 2025)
Delingpod, “Dick Delingpole,” podcast host James Delingpole lets his brother Dick Delingpole interview him about his trip to Russia (October 17, 2025)
Delingpod, “Charles Bausman,” podcast host James Delingpole interviews Charles Bausman about their trip (October 21, 2025)
Orthodox Christianity (orthochristian.com), Part 1: “ORTHODOXY WILL BE PREACHED AND SPREAD AS THESE FATEFUL DAYS UNFOLD” Part 2: “PERSECUTION IN MOLDOVA
Conrad Franz talks about his trip to the pious land of Moldova,” articles chronicling a 2 part interview of Conrad Franz by Nun Cornelia (Rees) (Dec. 12, 2025)
With the last interviews and articles coming in mid December, the English language output from this election time visit to Moldova may not yet have finished.
High Level Meetings and Clear State Organization
In his interview on Orthodox Christianity dot com, Conrad Franz is introduced as having been “invited to Russia by the Moscow Patriarch Department for the Church’s Society and Mass Mediа Relations” (...) “to get firsthand experience of our Church life—in Moscow, Moldova, and the Donbas.“
From various articles and interviews it is clear that the Russian Orthodox Church, through the department listed above, issued the invitations for this trip. Charles Bausman coordinated the trip itself and may have been the one to select the participants.
After their travels to Moldova, the group apparently split apart. Conrad Franz went on to travel to Transnistria which he stated was “not part of the tour because there is no persecution there.” While there he met with Transnistrian “President” Vadim Krasnoselsky. From there he went on to Moscow and then to the Donbas where he toured frontline positions and churches.
Charles Bausman and James Delingpole also went on to Moscow after Moldova. In their podcasts they speak of meetings with “high level ministers” and with Deputy Chair of the State Duma Pyotr Tolstoy.
The level or organization and facilitation by the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian state, as well as the rapid dissemination in the Shor network, imply a coordinated effort. But that does not imply (necessarily) that any individual who participated played an entirely knowing role. We’ll discuss this more in Section 2 and in a future report on the role of religious groups in election related FIMI.
Once again, I encourage you to check out the whole report - you can find it online here:
Grasstops refers to influential figures within a community. It’s the opposite of “grassroots” which is about the everyman. Grasstops strategies seek to influence the elite while grassroots strategies build a power base from the wider population.
Presumably he is covered by President Trump’s blanket pardon of all related offenses. It’s unclear if Bausman was ever actually charged.