Moldova’s New Government Comes Together
Alexandru Munteanu, the designated candidate for Prime Minister, has been busy assembling his team and governing program. Over the last few days he has held consultation meetings with representatives from the business community, labor unions, agricultural associations and civil society groups to discuss priorities for the new government. He has also been meeting with current ministers, leading to a slow rolling story of people staying and going in the new government. Finally, today on October 28th Mr. Munteanu announced his proposed cabinet ministers and government program. He will present both to parliament on Friday October 31st for a vote of confidence.
Here is his proposed government:
Before meeting on Friday to vote on the government, parliament will meet on Thursday to elect vice speakers and form standing committees. Speaker Grosu has already stated that there will be a new standing committee in this parliament - the Committee for European Integration. He has indicated that newly elected MP and former Minister of Labor Marcel Spatari will head it.
Editorial Note: We will return to the new cabinet of ministers and government program in deep dive analysis pieces later this week. We’ll look at which ministers stayed and which were replaced as well as what that might say about the new government. We’ll also parse through the government program to better understand Mr. Munteanu’s priorities. Articles like this are only for Moldova Matters paid subscribers, so if you aren’t one already - consider subscribing today.
Other Political News
Here’s a roundup of the other top politics stories of the week:
Chisinau Mayor Ion Ceban stated that it would be “legal, logical and correct” for him to get a seat in the government as Mayor. He stated this at a city hall meeting where he is still struggling to pass a city budget for 2025.
PAS MPs threaten to sue PPDA leader Vasile Costiuc. Mr. Costiuc has been doing a series of TV interviews claiming that PAS falsified the election results. In one case he stated “I don’t know why they didn’t draw 65, 75 mandates, I don’t know why they limited themselves to just 55.” PAS MP Radu Marian has threatened to sue Costiuc for libel unless he apologizes in 15 days. In another situation, Costiuc appeared in a joint TV interview with PAS MP Lilian Carp who also threatened to sue him in the course of a heated argument about Mr. Costiuc’s alleged lies. Costiuc ultimately stormed out of the studio.
International Affairs
This week the United States announced major sanctions against Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil. This marks a major escalation of US energy sanctions against Russia. Formerly, US policy had been to keep Russian oil flowing to the international market to prevent major spikes in gasoline prices, but to control the price that Russia was able to sell oil at in order to weaken the Kremlin. The move against Russian energy “appears” to have been coordinated with the UK and EU according to the NYTimes.
The US Administration has threatened secondary sanctions on entities doing business with these companies, but these have not yet been fully specified. In theory, banks conducting transactions for the Russian energy giants could risk being locked out of the global financial system.
Lukoil operates one of the largest networks of gas stations across Moldova. The company is also a major player in importing automotive fuel and practically a monopolist in the supply of aviation fuel. The National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE) and Ministry of Energy have both announced that they are working to analyze the situation. They, along with experts, have sought to assure the public that there is no threat to the nation’s gasoline supply as the market is well diversified.
Watchdog expert Eugen Muravschi explained that the process in Moldova will play out over time saying:
“US sanctions immediately apply only to Rosneft and Lukoil assets in the US1. For subsidiary companies in other countries, such as Lukoil Moldova, the application of sanctions is not automatic, but at the discretion of the US authorities. In other words, Lukoil does not disappear overnight.”
He and others have speculated that the government and ANRE will likely start looking for a solution - including the sale of Lukoil assets to a new owner. Lukoil itself announced on October 27th that they will be starting to sell off international assets market by market.
New sanctions announced by the European Commission also target the import of LNG from Russia, Rosneft, Gazprom Neft and the “ghost fleet.” They also levied sanctions against Ilan Shor’s cryptocurrency A7A5 and Promsvyazbank (PSB)
Other Foreign Affairs News
The EU has amended its budget to add €25 million euros for NGO funding in the Eastern Partnership countries. MEP Siegfried Mureșan explained the amendment and its impact as follows:
“Civil society plays a key role in strengthening democracy in neighboring countries, especially in candidate countries like Moldova, which face anti-democratic pressure and aggression from the Russian Federation. In the context of the end of US support, we believe it is the European Union’s duty to support independent non-governmental organizations so that they can continue their work,”
President Maia Sandu attended the consecration of the new National Cathedral of Romania (also called the People’s Salvation Cathedral). The new Cathedral will be the tallest Eastern Orthodox church, and the largest by both volume and area. The event was attended by over 2500 official guests and was presided over by Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople and Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church. While in Bucharest, President Sandu also met with Romanian President Nicușor Dan.
Ilan Shor & Hybrid War Updates
Here’s a roundup of the top new stories in Russia’s hybrid war against Moldova:
Security and Intelligence Service (SIS) Director Alexandru Musteață paid a visit to the headquarters of the Executive Committee of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia. The intelligence chief was seen entering and exiting the building, along with a large retinue, but offered no official comment on the purpose of his visit. Local journalists report that he was discussing the affiliation of some deputies of the People’s Assembly with Ilan Shor.
TikTok presented a report on their efforts to protect Moldovan voters during the parliamentary elections. The company claims to have dismantled 5 networks of accounts which were “promoting pro-Russian politicians and trying to discredit the current government.” From July 1st to September 28th, this entailed the removal of 9300 pieces of content; preventing 2.9 million fake likes and 1.8 million fake follow requests; blocking the creation of 268,000 spam accounts in Moldova; removal of 134,000 fake accounts; the removal of 1173 accounts impersonating Moldovan officials and more. TikTok appears keen to position themselves as a reliable partner for the Central Election Commission (CEC). Meanwhile, competitor Facebook showed lax moderation and engagement in this election and Google provides no spending or transparency tools for Moldovan politics at all2.
Police, including Fulger police special forces, conducted raids across the north of the country. The authorities explained the raids saying that they were “conducting several searches in the north of the country, in a criminal case initiated for the preparation of mass destabilization and disorder on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, trips and trainings in Serbia. We will return with details.” Later reporting showed that the Socialist President of the Riscani district, Vladimir Mizdrenko, was arrested alongside another individual that police claim “directly participated” in the trainings in Serbia. In Balti, Socialist Municipal Councilor Maxim Morosanu was also searched and his car was seized. Spokesmen for the Socialist Party claim “no connection to any illegal actions” and allege political prosecutions.
Plahotniuc Updates
Here are the week’s updates related to the cases against oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc
The first witnesses are heard in the “Bank Fraud” trial. Witnesses began testifying as to Plaha’s involvement in the Theft of the Billion. The oligarch himself was not present in court. In connection with this case the State has announced an intention to seek $39 million USD and €3.5 million euros from Plahotniuc in civil actions related to the Bank Fraud theft.
The Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) rejected an appeal by Plaha’s political party. The Modern Democratic Party (PDMM) was suspended before the election after roaring back to life following the arrest of Plahotniuc in Greece. The “court legally concluded the existence of aspects that may seriously harm political pluralism and fundamental democratic principles, through the possible existence of subversive actions carried out through PDMM.” They cite the “migration” of Shor network members to PDMM as well as financial connections to PSB bank as well as other evidence of illicit financing.
Cu Sens reports on the many faces of Plahotniuc. The outlet worked with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) to track down the identities behind Plahotnic’s many fake (and real) passports under various pseudonyms. The investigation is extremely detailed and well worth reading in full. Journalists started at the property where Plaha was living prior to his arrest in Greece. While speaking to the neighbors, Plahotniuc’s lawyer Lucian Rogac emerged from the property to catch a cab - apparently now living there with his wife Nicoleta Rogac3. They then traced each identity to their registered addresses in Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine. They also virtually tracked identities in Russia, Iraq and Vanuatu. Some of the stolen identities were from people who did live at the addresses and were very confused by the questions. Others were stolen from dead men - as with his “Mihailo Tauşanji” identity, taken from a man of that name who was murdered in Odesa in 2003. In many cases passports from one jurisdiction were used to get citizenship in another. Plahotniuc used the name and documents of deceased Ukrainian citizen Mihailo Tauşanji to obtain Bulgarian citizenship under that name in 20044. Similarly, his Iraqi identity, Al Shaheen Fereyduon Shaheen Yako, was used to purchase a “golden passport” from Vanuatu for $130,000 USD. Cu Sens reporters acknowledged that these passports and IDs discovered at his arrest do not even represent the known aliases, fake identities and dubious citizenships that past reporting has shown Plahotniuc to have. Their investigation is a helpful reminder that before his time as a politician, Plahotniuc was a mafioso and a thug. Aspects of his identity that never faded from his story.
Lukoil operates gas stations across New York, Pennsylvania and multiple other US States.
The EU forces pubic reporting about political ads, who spends the money, etc. Outside of large jurisdictions that demand this type of transparency, google does not separate spending on election issues and provides no financial transparency at all.
Previously the landlord had claimed to have rented it to Plahotniuc via a rental company - this turned out to be false as the company claims to no longer have been associated with the property around a year before he arrived. When called for comment about why Plaha’s lawyer is living there now, the property owner hung up the phone.
This was before he was in elected office.