Hello everyone and welcome back to Moldova Matters! This week we have finally found a relatively light news week, with the exception of the new report on the Cobasna ammunition depot which I covered in depth in these 2 investigative pieces:
Today we’re going to go through a quick roundup of the other top stories of the week. Then, Moldova Matters is going to take week off as I go on vacation for a spell. We’ll be back in September.
NYTimes Investigation Highlights Moldova
On August 14, the New York Times published an investigation into Russian hybrid attacks against Moldova and the attempts to subvert the 2024 and 2025 elections. Longtime readers of Moldova Matters (or of the Moldovan press) will find very little new here, but the article is a good read and has a few sections that genuinely landed as a surprise for readers who have not followed Moldova. In one such example, the article cites multiple Western intelligence officials claiming that Putin briefed Russia’s top leadership that their goal in 2026 is “the collapse of NATO and the E.U. from within.” The article went on:
“Moldova is central to this effort. In the hierarchy of Kremlin priorities, the Western intelligence officials say, conquering Ukraine is first, and taking control in Moldova is second.”
The article noted that Putin has not given up on capturing Odesa and creating a land bridge to Moldova.
While it is unclear whether or not Moldova is central to Russia’s plans to collapse NATO, it has been abundantly clear from Chisinau that Moldova is central to Russia’s plan to do something. The Odesa line shows once again the mismatch between Russian capability and intention - but this article is a good reminder to the world that those intentions remain.
Lots of Drones This Week
As Ukraine suffers intense bombardment, including with new “missile drones,” Moldova has seen a major increase in crashes and overflights. On August 16, a drone flew through Moldova into Romania before being shot down by a Spanish F-18 around 24 miles north of Galati.
On August 17, a drone crashed and exploded outside the village of Talmaza in Ștefan Vodă. It happened in a corn field and left a crater with a 2 m diameter and a depth of 50 cm and threw wreckage in a spread of 45 m x 20 m. Based on the small turbojet engine found at the scene this was identified as one of the new missile drones, possibly a Geran-4.
August 20, saw one drone overflight, with the drone leaving Moldovan airspace and returning to Ukraine. It also saw one strike at a truck stop in Ukraine 150 m from the Giurgiulesti-Reni border crossing with Moldova. This second strike caused a brushfire which spread into Moldova but was quickly contained by fire fighters. In the morning, a mobile border patrol team found a crater and drone fragments in a field 1 km inside Moldova in the vicinity of the same border crossing point.
Then, August 21, a drone struck the Ukrainian side of the Myrne-Tabaki border crossing checkpoint, which is also in Southwestern Moldova. It damaged border crossing facilities 300 m from the border with Moldova.
Another missile drone crossed in and out of the airspace this morning.
Russia’s increased use of missile drones and ballistic missiles, combined with Ukraine’s depleting stock of Patriot interceptors, has made August a difficult month in Ukraine. The spillover into Moldova, whether accidental or not, also marks an escalation of the conflict along the southern border.
Politics
Here’s a roundup of the top political stories of the week:
The Bashkan seat is vacant. That was the decision of the Gagauzia People’s Assembly on August 17 following the Court of Appeals ruling against former Bashkan Evghenia Gutsul. When residents of Gagauzia go to the polls on November 15 they may be voting for both delegate to the the People’s Assembly as well as the Bashkan - making this the biggest electoral test of the government’s' efforts to combat the Shor network in 2026.
Mayor Ion Ceban had an accident while on vacation (somewhere). Chisinau’s mayor posted on his facebook page August 15 writing that he was returning to Moldova following an “unpleasant incident” while on a short vacation with his family. Once back home, he will immediately undergo surgery on his legs. Rumors of a drunken fall as well as pictures allegedly showing him in the airport in London (or on some fancy island) swirled around the internet. Ceban rejected the rumors but did not mention how he was injured or where he was traveling. He later posted a picture stating that a 7 hour surgery went well and thanking the doctors. Mayor Ceban has consistently been secretive around his travels, with a notorious case of lying about being in Moscow on February 24, 2022. In addition to the rumors of his injury, much of the coverage of this incident has focused on how he and his family have afforded such vacations on the mayor’s official salary.
Teachers protest as the government punts on salary increases for public sector workers. Teachers and other public sector workers had been promised a wage increase from September 1, but the government now says that this was tied to the passage of a tax reform bill that stalled over the summer. Prime Minister Tofan and Minister of Education Dan Perciun both went to speak to the protestors and promised solutions. Later, they announced a one-time 4,000 lei payment for most teachers who earn less than 20,000 lei a month in October. This payment is meant to be a bridge to full salary increases that are now scheduled for January 1, 2027. The Prime Minister announced that the new wage law should see an increase of 15-25% for most public sector workers while gradually narrowing the wage gap from lowest to highest paid in institutions from 1:15 to 1:10.5.
The Novodnistrovsk reservoir on the Dniester water continues to drain. On August 16 the inflow rate had fallen to 23 cubic meters / second while the outflow rate is being held at 75. This means that the reservoir is in serious decline and the Ministry of the Environment has continued to call for all households to implement water-saving measures.
The Vulcănești – Chișinău power line’s commissioning has been postponed again. Minister of Energy Dorin Junghietu stated that a fault was found in a transformer, and it needed to be shipped back to the manufacturer in Spain for repairs1. While it appears to be a standard manufacturing fault, this does mark the first specific deadline in the Tofan government program that has been missed. The program promised that this power line, well over a year behind schedule, would be commissioned by the end of August 2026.
If you want to read about how difficult it is to build and repair transformers - I highly recommend this article.