Investigations and Other Updates
January 13, 2025
Hello Moldova Matters readers!
Today I wanted to bring you a few important updates as we look ahead to 2025. The first is the introduction of a dedicated “Investigations” section to the newsletter. For those who don’t visit the Moldova Matters website much the sections are basically the navigational tabs at the top. In your email preferences you can choose to receive emails from all sections or just the ones you want to follow.
When I started Moldova Matters I never planned on doing any investigations at all. I hardly planned on doing original reporting. The idea was to bring readers an English language product that leaned heavily on the excellent work of local journalists. My value add was contextualizing and curating information for an international audience.
Over the last (almost) 4 years this original plan shifted and more and more of my coverage relies on my own efforts to dig into a story. This is best exemplified in the 2 original investigations I published in the last few months. In case you missed them here they are:
These stories started with tips from readers1 and quickly took on a life of their own. They involved emails and interviews from people around the world, deep dives into documents and legal filings and LOTS of online research across disinformation platforms. I’m extremely proud of the outcome and that Moldova Matters was the first (and sometime only outlet) to report this information.
While the initial reason to dive into these stories was an old fashioned tip, there is a bigger reason that this became a Moldova Matters project - there’s no one else to do it. Moldova has a vibrant independent press and some incredible investigative journalists but they are neither experienced in, nor oriented towards, stories like this taking place outside of Moldova.2 For the rest of the world and international press Moldova is a bit too small to focus on.
This all means that the work we’re doing at Moldova Matters is going to be increasingly important going forward as Russian influence campaigns seek to damage support for Moldova in the EU and US via dirty money and agents of influence.
I don’t anticipate there being a lot of original investigations going forward - but there will be some. As such we’re adding a dedicated tab so that these articles don’t get lost in the day to day firehose of news.
Other Updates - Lock in Your Low Price Now
The other important update today is that I’ve decided that it’s time to raise subscription prices. It’s been nearly 4 years and while the monthly price of $5 / month has stayed stable, the place I live in has seen 70% inflation.3 Something’s gotta give.
To be clear - this does not affect ANY current paying subscribers.
When you subscribe to a newsletter on Substack you lock in your price4 and I have no power to change it. So if you signed up for $5 / month or $50 / year those prices will not change.
Starting February 15th, new signups will cost $8 / month and $75 / year. These prices will come into effect in just over a month - so you have plenty of time to sign up at the old prices between here and there!
I know this may seem like a price jump, but the original scope of this newsletter has vastly expanded since February 2021. I love writing Moldova Matters and bringing you all content from other writers, occasional podcasts and more - but this all takes a lot of time. In any case, if you feel like the new prices are too high - subscribe before February 15th to lock in the old prices forever!
One more note, I’m sometimes asked by companies and organizations about group subscriptions. Luckily Substack makes this really easy. Group managers select a number of “seats” in their subscription and can manage the users who get emails from their own dashboard. Subscribing as a group to Moldova Matters is a really easy and convienent way for a company or organization to receive updates and centrally manage the expensing process. It’s also a lot more polite than dodging the paywall.5
If you have any questions about groups feel free to reach out by responding to any Moldova Matters email (including this one).
Onward to 2025!
I’m anticipating a lot of changes at Moldova Matters this year. I’m excited to experiment more with podcasts and new types of content. I’m working actively to bring some more voices to the newsletter to share expert analysis as well as informed opinion with readers - if you are such a person and is interested in writing reach out!
Each year of Moldova Matters has brought a lot of changes and I am hopeful that 2025 will be a key year taking this project to a new level. Absolutely core to this effort is your support. If you are a subscriber already you have my wholehearted thanks and appreciation. Your support has gotten us this far.
If you aren’t a subscriber but have kinda thought it might be a good idea - now’s your time. Lock in your lower price before February 15th and support the newsletter - you won’t regret it.
If you also have a story tip please do reach out! You can reply to any Moldova Matters email to get in contact with me.
This can lead to blind spots. Moldova Matters was the only news outlet in Moldova to realize that leaked recordings allegedly showing links between the Stoianoglo campaign and the FSB were part of an influence operation. This does not mean the leak wasn’t real (it probably is all real) but the source of the information is important. It was disseminated as journalism and local press did not realize that the outlet was fake and acts as a front for paid PR firm content. A PR firm most likely paid by an intelligence agency.
Before you ask, Moldova’s inflation has impacted income in USD as well. The National Bank has done a remarkable job keeping the lei / dollar / euro exchange rate incredibly stable. So when it costs twice as much to buy groceries the currency isn’t really the issue.
There are exceptions if you subscribe under one of the automatic promotions but it should tell you clearly what the ultimate price is after the promotional period.
From my perspective group subscriptions are also a lot nicer than organizations that have one paid user receiving emails and forwarding them to dozens (or something hundreds) of other users. So far I haven’t cracked down on this but I do know who you are. I have no problem with people sharing emails with their friends - I *encourage* people to do this! But when your email address is an international organization and you’re using a single $5 / month account to do this I feel a little jaded about the state of the world.
David, it's great to have you articulate what confirms my vague assumptions about what is happening, and I hope I'm one of many voices affirming your work and the direction you're heading. The recent piece about the Kremlin's "game in Transnistria" was especially good...scary, but so much better than not having what's going on made reasonably clear. I hope you personally and Moldova in general (the government in particular) are able to have the resources necessary to the tasks ahead.